UNDER    THE     RED    CRESCENT. 


UNDER 
THE  RED  CRESCENT 


ADVENTURES   OF   AN   ENGLISH   SURGEON 

WITH    THE    TURKISH    ARMY    AT 

PLEVNA   AND    ERZEROUM, 

1877—1878. 


RELATED    BY 

CHARLES    S.    RYAN,    M.B.,    CM.    EDIN., 


IN   ASSOCIATION   WITH    HIS    FRIEND 


JOHN     SANDES,     B.A.     OXON. 


WITH  PORTRAIT   AND   MAPS. 


NEW    YORK: 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

153-157,    FIFTH    AVENUE. 
1897. 


DEDICATION. 

THIS    RECORD 

OF 
THE     STIRRING    ADVENTURES     OF     MY     EARLY     YEARS 

I     DEDICATE     TO     MY     SON 

RUPERT. 

C.  S.  R, 


PREFACE. 


IN  submitting  to  the  popular  verdict  this  book, 
which  aims  at  being  a  plain,  straightforward 
account  of  the  experiences  of  a  young  Australian 
in  the  last  great  battles  which  have  been  fought 
in  Europe,  I  feel  that  a  few  words  of  explanation 
are  necessary. 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  asked  why  I  have 
allowed  twenty  years  to  elapse  before  giving 
these  reminiscences  to  the  world.  I  must  answer 
that,  as  a  hard-working  surgeon  leading  a  very 
busy  life,  I  had  but  little  "  learned  leisure  "  at 
my  disposal ;  and  I  must  also  admit  that  I  did 
not  feel  myself  equal  to  the  literary  labour  of 
writing  a  book.  Indeed  it  might  never  have 
been  written  if  my  friend  Mr.  Sandes  had  not 
agreed  to  my  suggestion  that  he  should  reproduce 
in  a  literary  and  publishable  form  the  language  of 
the  armchair  and  the  fireside,  and  so  enable  me  to 
relate  to  the  world  at  large  some  of  the  incidents 
which  my  own  immediate  friends,  when  listening 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

over  the  cigars  to  my  recollections,  have  been 
good  enough  to  call  interesting.  So  much  for 
the  matter  of  the  book,  and  also  for  its  manner. 

In  the  second  place,  military  critics  as  well  as 
the  general  public  may  be  inclined  to  wonder 
how  it  was  that  a  young  army  surgeon,  a  mere 
lad  in  fact,  should  have  been  allowed  to  play 
such  an  independent  part  in  the  field  operations 
at  Plevna  as  is  disclosed  in  the  following  pages, 
and  should  have  been  permitted  to  move  about 
the  battle-field  and  engage  in  active  service,  with 
the  apparent  concurrence  of  the  general  staff 
and  of  the  officers  commanding  the  different 
regiments.  In  reply,  I  have  to  explain  that  the 
Ottoman  army  was  not  guided  by  the  hard- 
and-fast  regulations  which  no  doubt  would  render 
it  impossible  for  a  junior  surgeon  in  any  other 
European  army  to  act  on  his  own  volition  and 
carry  on  his  work  as  he  might  think  best  him- 
self. Furthermore,  I  may  mention  that  through 
my  close  friendship  with  Prince  Czetwertinski, 
who  was  the  captain  of  Osman  Pasha's  bodyguard, 
I  was  always  kept  in  touch  with  the  progress 
of  the  military  operations  ;  and  I  am  also  proud 
to  say  that  I  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Osman 
Pasha  himself,  and  was  on  terms  of  the  closest 
intimacy  with  that  gallant  and  true-hearted 
soldier  Tewfik  Bey,  who  won  the  rank  of  pasha 


PREFACE.  IX 

for  his  magnificent  courage  when  he  led  the 
assault  that  drove  Skobeleff  from  the  Krishin 
redoubts. 

These  facts  may  explain  many  of  the  adven- 
tures narrated  in  this  book  which  would  be 
inexplicable  to  critics  accustomed  to  the  rigid 
discipline  under  which  medical  officers  do  their 
work  in  other  European  armies. 

It  is  only  right  to  say,  in  conclusion,  that 
I  consider  myself  singularly  fortunate  in  my 
coadjutor,  who,  while  he  has  brightened  this 
narrative  of  my  early  adventures  with  all  the 
resources  of  the  practised  writer,  has  nevertheless 
left  the  truth  of  every  single  incident  absolutely 
unimpaired.  At  a  time  when  the  Eastern 
Question  looms  like  a  huge  shadow  over  Europe, 
and  when  the  very  existence  of  the  Turkish 
Empire  is  once  more  threatened,  may  I  hope 
that  this  story  of  the  military  virtues  of  the 
Ottoman  troops  may  not  be  found  without  real 
interest  ? 

CHARLES  S.  RYAN. 

MELBOURNE,  July,  1897. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

FROM    MELBOURNE  TO  SOFIA. 

PAGE 

Autobiographical — My  Wanderjahr — First  Glimpse  of 
Servians — Rome — A  Prospective  Mother-in-law — Sad 
Result  of  eating  Chops — A  Spanish  Poet — The  Chance 
of  a  Lifetime — How  I  seized  it — Garcia' s  Gold  Watch — 
The  Via  del  Poppo — Off  to  London — Engaged  by  the 
Turkish  Government — Vienna  revisited — Stamboul — 
Origin  of  the  Crescent — Misserie's  Hotel — The  Turkish 
Character — A  Splendid  Belvedere — View  from  the 
Seraskierat  Tower — Scutari  and  Florence  Nightingale — 
Stamboul  by  Day  and  Night — Scene  in  a  Bazaar — Three 
Sundays  a  Week — A  Trip  to  Sweet  Waters— Veiled 
Beauties — I  am  gazetted  to  a  Regiment — An  Official 
Dinner — Off  to  the  Front — A  Compulsory  Shave — My 
Charger — The  March  to  Sofia — My  First  Patient — Pre- 
scription for  a  Malingerer — Mehemet  Ali — My  Soldier 
Servant — Diagnosing  my  Cases — Bulgarians  at  Home — 
At  Sofia — MacGahan  the  War  Correspondent — Learning 
Turkish — A  Dinner  in  Camp— Leniency  to  Bulgarians 
— A  Lady  Patient — So  near  and  yet  so  far — From  Pirot 
to  Nish — The  Wounded — My  First  Operation  .  .  i 

CHAPTER    II. 

THE    PRELIMINARIES    TO    THE    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

Prince  Czetwertinski — A  Romantic  Career — His  First 

Commission — A   Retrospect — The   History  of  a  Noble 

Pole — From  Monte   Carlo  to  Brisbane — A  Prince  as  a 

Deck  Hand  on  a  Schooner — A  Bush  Tutor — He  returns 

xi 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

to  Europe — The  Load  of  Poverty — Lighter  to  Bear  in 
Australia — A  Big  Win  at  Flemington — School  Teaching 
in  Batavia— Back  to  New  South  Wales— Death  at 
Wagga— The  Vale  of  Moravia— The  Hot  Spring— Bul- 
garian Blanchisseuses — Slavonian  Folk-songs — How  the 
Turks  sing — A  Bulgarian  Samadh — Foley's  End — 
Infuriated  Scavengers — A  Mysterious  Disturbance — 
Rough-and-tumble  Fighting — A  Turkish  Hercules — 
Capturing  a  Prisoner — A  Solitary  Ride — A  Bulgarian 
Farrier — Back  to  Sofia — Christmas  in  the  Snow — A 
Maize  Cob  for  a  Christmas  Dinner — Orkhanieh  to  Sofia — 
A  Doctor  frozen  to  Death — Bitter  Experiences — Salutary 
Effects  of  a  Good  Dinner -32 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE    IMMINENCE    OF   WAR. 

Off  to  Widdin — Strong  Fortifications — Osman  Pasha 
in  Command — The  Kalafatians  at  Work — Dr.  Black — 
A  Discreditable  Englishman— Shooting  on  Sight — An 
Arrest  and  a  Release — "Life  off  Black" — Egyptian 
Troops  arrive — Zara  Dilber  Effendi — Osman  Pasha's 
Ball — A  Memorable  Function — I  get  Plenty  of  Partners — 
Military  Wall-flowers— The  Ladies  of  Widdin— The 
Dance  before  the  Fight — Three  Beautiful  Roumanians — 
An  Angry  Grandfather — Lambro  Redivivus — Preparing 
for  the  Campaign — Some  Forcible  Dentistry — Religion  of 
the  Turks— The  Wrestlers— Visitors  from  Kalafat— I  pay 
a  Return  Call — Across  the  Danube  into  Kalafat — Dinner 
with  the  Roumanians — Pumping  the  Guileless  Stranger 
— A  Futile  Effort — Frank  Power — Nicholas  Leader — 
Edmund  O' Donovan — Wild  Duck  Shooting  .  .  .  56 

CHAPTER    IV. 

FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

Declaration  of  War  with  Russia — An  Ominous 
Silence — The  First  Shot — An  Interrupted  Luncheon — 
Under  Fire  at  last — Disappearance  of  the  Inhabitants — 
A  Move  Underground — Running  the  Gauntlet — Blowing 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

PAGE 

up  a  Gunboat — Our  Hospital  shelled — Killing  the 
Wounded — Operations  under  Fire — A  Terrible  Coin- 
cidence— How  a  Turkish  Mother  died — Some  Marvellous 
Escapes — Circassians  on  a  Raiding  Expedition — Cattle- 
lifting  on  a  Grand  Scale — A  Long  Bombardment — 
Insignificant  Losses — Osman  Pasha  in  the  Batteries — 
Rewarding  a  Good  Shot — Circassian  Peccadilloes — 
Osman  Pasha's  Plans— He  is  baffled  by  Red  Tape— A 
Fatal  Delay — Good-bye  to  the  Kyrchehir — Marching  out 
from  Widdin — A  Picturesque  Bivouac — False  Alarms — 
A  Forced  March — How  the  Russian  Army  was  placed — 
Fall  of  Nicopolis — A  Race  to  the  Balkans — Sleeping  in 
a  Tomb — Pushing  on  to  Plevna — A  Terrible  Night — 
Lost  in  the  Bush — Many  Cases  of  Sunstroke — Goose  for 
Dinner — I  flesh  my  Maiden  Sword — A  Record  March — 
We  cross  the  Vid  at  last — Arrival  at  Plevna  .  88 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

The  Town  of  Plevna— A  Natural  Stronghold— Le  Petit 
Village— The  Gypsies'  Warning— Dr.  Robert— An  Ex- 
patriated Bacchanalian — We  attend  a  Banquet — The 
First  Battle  of  Plevna— An  Artillery  Duel— Surgical  Aid 
to  the  Wounded — A  Gunner's  Death — The  Zacuska — 
Arranging  the  Hospitals — Disposition  of  the  Turkish 
Line  of  Defence — Commencement  of  the  Battle — Fight- 
ing on  the  Janik  Bair — Arrival  of  the  Wounded — 
Sufferings  in  the  Arabas — Variety  in  Gunshot  Wounds 
— Some  Extraordinary  Recoveries — Turkish  Fortitude — 
Objections  to  Alcohol — And  to  Amputation — Berdan  v. 
Krenke  Bullets — A  Man  shot  through  the  Brain — Rapid 
Cure — An  Erratic  Rifle-ball — Remarkable  Example  of 
Vitality — A  Missile  in  the  Heart  of  a  Living  Man — My 
Second  Hospital — A  Turkish  Colonel's  Wound — In- 
sufficient Beds — Mangled  Wretches  lying  on  the  Floor 
— Two  Russians  wounded — They  both  die — The  Shambles 
in  the  Mosque — Our  Open-air  Operating  Theatre — 
Calling  the  Faithful  to  Prayer  .  .  .  .  .  .114 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   VI. 

THE    INTERVAL    BETWEEN    THE    FIRST    AND    SECOND    BATTLES. 

Sending  away  the  Wounded — Osman  Effendi — We 
perform  Operations — Amputating  Fingers — A  Warning 
to  Malingerers — Trial  and  Execution — Discipline  in  the 
Town — Round  the  Bazaars  after  the  Battle — Some 
Pathetic  Souvenirs — The  Punishment  of  Looters — 
Circassian  and  Bulgarian — A  Cold-blooded  Murder — 
The  Work  of  Fortification— Out  with  the  Burial  Parties 
— A  Walk  over  the  Battle-field — Fresh  Reinforcements 
arrive — The  Lovtcha  Expedition — Rifaat  Pasha's  Success 
— My  Quarters  near  the  Hospital — I  have  a  Flitting — 
Arrival  of  Olivier  Pain — A  Pretty  Bulgarian  Girl — 
Limitations  of  a  Vocabulary — Hospital  Routine — Soldier 
Nurses 142 

CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    SECOND    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA   (jULY    30). 

Talks  with  my  Patients — A  Candid  Kurd — Grim  Con- 
fessions— How  he  killed  his  Enemy — Dr.  Robert's  Cave 
of  Refuge— He  loses  his  Dinner— The  Spy's  Death — 
Canards  in  the  Town— The  Second  Battle  of  Plevna— 
I  take  a  Hand — Turkish  Women  as  Water-carriers — A 
Woman  shot  in  Action — My  Veiled  Patient — Osman 
Pasha's  Bay  Cob— A  Sign  of  Hot  Fighting— The  Attack 
on  the  Village  of  Grivitza — Czetwertinski  and  his 
Cigarette — Retreat  of  the  Russian  Infantry — A  Cavalry 
Pursuit — Mustapha  Bey  waves  his  Sword — I  join  in  the 
Charge — An  Exultant  Ride — The  Retreat  sounded — We 
retire — A  sauve  qui  £eut — Horrible  Fears — The  Ride 
through  the  Maize-field — Our  Infantry  Panic-struck — 
Osman  Pasha's  Method  of  rallying  Men — A  Timely 
Reinforcement — The  Day  is  ours — Tremendous  Russian 
Losses — Russian  Physique  compared  with  Turkish — 
Wounded  Horses  on  the  Battle-field — Back  in  the 
Hospital — Many  Operations — Osman  Pasha  decorated — 
The  Muchir  makes  a  Speech — I  shift  my  Quarters 


CONTENTS.  XV 

PAGE 

again— Bulgarian  Hospitality— A  Youthful  Friend— A 
Terrific  Rainstorm— The  Tutchenitza  runs  a  Banker— 
A  Ghastly  Find  in  a  Gooseberry  Bush  .  .  .  .161 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE    FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT   AND    LOVTCHA. 

A  Circassian  and  a  Pig — A  Call  on  Olivier  Pain — His 
Photographs  surprise  me — A  View  of  Sydney  Harbour 
in  Plevna — The  Story  of  a  French  Journalist — A  Lonely 
Death  in  the  Soudan — "The  Butter-making  Prince  "  — 
Bulgarian  Fleas — The  Expedition  to  Poradim — Going  to 
the  Front — An  Ambulance  at  Work — Capture  of  Russian 
Guns — A  Diabolical  Circassian — Attack  on  a  Redoubt 
— A  General  Retreat — Wounded  Men  left  in  the  Redoubt 
— I  help  them  to  escape — An  Exciting  Moment — My 
Horse  has  to  carry  Double — Death  takes  one  of  the 
Riders— Battle  of  Pelischat— The  March  to  Lovtcha— A 
Scrimmage  in  a  Wheat-field — Sleeping  in  a  Wheat-stook 
— Weinberger  and  I  are  apprehensive — A  Delightful 
Surprise — Drawing  a  Covert — Lovtcha  in  the  Distance — 
A  Council  of  War — An  Appalling  Sight — Our  Mutilated 
Comrades — The  Sergeant  and  his  Cigarette — A  Night 
Alarm — Ammunition  Boxes  blow  up — A  Disastrous  Ex- 
plosion— Lauri  and  Drew  Gay 189 

CHAPTER    IX. 

THE   THIRD    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

The  Third  Battle  of  Plevna— Turkish  Genius  for  Forti- 
fication— How  the  Redoubts  were  built — Description  of 
an  Earthwork — Sleeping  Underground — Living  Men  in 
Holes  in  the  Clay— The  Triple  Tier  of  Fire— Commence- 
ment of  the  Battle — The  "  Mammoth  Battery" — Lauri 
and  the  Live  Shell — Radishevo  on  Fire — The  General 
Assault — Turkish  Civilians  join  in  the  Fight — Attack  on 
the  Grivitza  Redoubt— The  Brushwood  Shelter  takes  Fire 
—I  visit  the  Redoubt — The  Sight  from  the  Parapet— A 
Word  to  Sadik  Pasha— I  ride  towards  Krishin— Turkish 
Fugitives  from  our  Redoubt — A  Compliment  from  a 


Xvi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Civilian — Panic  among  the  Troops — Fall  of  the  Grivitza 
Redoubt  and  Capture  of  Two  Krishin  Redoubts  by 
Skobeleff— The  Counter-attacks— Parapets  of  Dead 
Bodies — Tewfik  Bey  Invincible — The  Krishin  Redoubts 
recaptured — A  Glorious  Victory — Delirious  Excitement 
— Russian  Sortie  from  the  Grivitza  Redoubt — Repulsed 
with  Terrible  Slaughter — Hospital  Work  heavy  once  more 
— Some  Stoical  Sufferers — Russian  Bravery — Osman 
Pasha  and  the  Wounded — Departure  of  Drew  Gay  to  run 
the  Gauntlet — A  War  Correspondent  and  his  News — 
Perilous  Ride  from  Plevna 219 

CHAPTER    X. 

THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

Lauri  and  the  Sausage — A  Diet  of  "  Foiled  Peans  " 
— The  Ways  of  a  Parlementaire — Politeness  on  the 
Battle-field — Indefatigable  Burrowing  by  the  Turks — 
Skobeleff 's  Annoyance — A  Visit  to  a  Redoubt — Russian 
Artillery  Practice — I  lose  my  Groom — Geese,  and  how  to 
get  them — I  go  out  reconnoitring — We  have  a  Hot  Ten 
Minutes — Looking  out  for  a  New  Horse — A  Grand 
Charger  lost — We  retire  on  Netropol — The  Use  of  Artillery 
— The  Russians  attack  our  Convoy — We  lose  our  Medical 
Stores — A  Humorous  Russian  Prisoner — Afternoon 
Coffee  with  Sadik  Pasha — A  Call  made  under  Difficulties 
— The  Uninvited  Guest — Kronberg  my  Colleague — He 
saves  a  Supposed  Spy — In  my  Hospital  again — Fearful 
Scenes  of  Suffering — Wounds,  Filth,  and  Disease — 
Heavy  Mortality — Antiseptics  exhausted — Appearance 
of  Gangrene — My  Anatolian  Soldier — Pyaemia  Rampant  248 

CHAPTER    XI. 

THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

Some  of  my  Hospital  Cases — A  Death  from  Jaundice 
— Small-pox  and  Typhoid  Fever — Hospital  Gangrene — 
Waiting  for  the  Burial  Parties — Horrible  Depression — I 
am  slightly  wounded — Turkish  Florence  Nightingales — 


CONTENTS.  XVli 

A  Ghastly  Case — I  am  powerless  for  want  of  Stores — The 
Men  die  off  like  Sheep — Arrival  of  a  Party  of  English 
Doctors — A  Welcome  Visit — Dr.  Bond  Moore  and  Dr. 
Mackellar — Dr.  George  Stoker  Sick — Interview  with 
Osman  Pasha — His  Reception  of  the  English  Doctors — 
Osman  Pasha's  Position — The  English  Doctors  indignant 
— Osman  Pasha  justified— A  Ride  to  the  Krishin  Re- 
doubts— The  English  Doctors  under  Fire — My  Reasons 
for  leaving  Plevna— A  Farewell  Supper— Mustapha  Bey 
and  the  Whisky— The  Departure  of  the  Wounded— 
Good-bye  to  Plevna 277 

CHAPTER    XII. 

FROM    CONSTANTINOPLE    TO    ERZEROUM. 

Life  in  Constantinople — Sir  Collingwood  Dickson — 
Visit  to  the  Seraskierat — Roving  Englishmen — A  Typical 
Adventurer — War  Correspondents — General  Berdan — 
Colonel  Valentine  Baker — A  Picnic  on  the  Gulf  of  Ismet 
—On  Board  H.M.S.  Achilles — The  Turks  as  Paymasters 
— A  Heavy  Fee — Round  the  Cafes  Chantants — An 
Invitation  to  Erzeroum — Road  to  Plevna  closed — I  join 
the  Stafford  House  Ambulance — A  Farewell  Banquet — 
A  Voyage  in  the  Black  Sea — Trebizond — In  the  Cradle 
of  Humanity — The  Road  of  Xenophon's  Ten  Thousand 
— Lazistan — Dog  and  Wolf — An  Ancient  Mining  Town — 
The  Valley  of  Pear  Trees— Baiburt— Cross  and  Crescent 
in  Former  Days — A  Mountain  Road — Genoese  Ruins — 
A  Hasty  Descent — On  the  Kopdagh — The  Garden  of 
Eden — First  Glimpse  of  the  Euphrates — Sir  Arnold  Kem- 
ball — Erzeroum  at  Last — English  Doctors — Mr.  Zohrab 
— Mukhtar  Pasha — Organizing  our  Hospitals — Sunlight 
and  Shadow — A  Presage  of  Trouble 303 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

The  Scourge  of  Typhus — Pyaemia  and  Pneumonia — 
Terrible  Cold— Outposts  frozen  to  death— Fall  of  Kars— 
The  March  of  the  Wounded — One  Hundred  and  Eighty 

b 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Miles  over  the  Snow— Ghastly  Effects  of  Frostbite— The 
Skeleton  Hands — Overcrowding  in  the  Hospitals — Dr. 
Fetherstonhaugh  falls  111 — A  Strange  Delusion — "After 
Long  Years  " — Edmund  O'Donovan — A  Circassian  Din- 
ner Party — Sucking-pig  d  I* Irlandaise — A  Novel  Target 
— Departure  of  Mr.  Zohrab — We  move  into  the  Consulate 
— Exodus  to  Erzinghan — An  Awful  Sacrifice — Christmas 
in  a  Besieged  Town — A  Remarkable  Plum  Pudding — 
Illness  of  Pinkerton — Funerals  in  Erzeroum — Casting 
out  the  Dead— "  The  Lean  Dogs  beneath  the  Wall  "— 
An  Army  Surgeon's  Death — I  fall  Sick  with  Typhus — 
Heroic  Devotion  of  James  Denniston — Some  of  my 
Nurses — How  I  recovered — A  Scientific  Experiment — 
The  Brain  of  a  Comatose  Person — Vachin's  Discomfiture  330 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

Convalescence — Membra  Disjecta — Mortality  among 
the  Medical  Staff—"  En  haut  Mystere,  en  bas  Misere  " 
—Arrival  of  Dr.  Stoker  and  Dr.  Stiven— A  Desperate 
Journey — In  the  Hands  of  the  Russians — Free  under  the 
English  Flag — I  resume  Duty — An  Archaeological  Curio — 
Antiques  for  Sale— An  Armistice  declared— Appearance 
of  the  Russians— The  Gates  thrown  Open— Entry  of  the 
Russian  Army — Our  Russian  Confreres — The  Advan- 
tage of  knowing  French — A  Friend  in  need — Captain 
Pizareff — An  Impressive  Review — Under  the  Russian 
Eagles — War  or  Peace  ? — Interview  with  General  Meli- 
koff — An  Unpleasant  Type  of  Consul — Charming 
Russian  Visitors — I  receive  a  Decoration — Celebrating 
the  Occasion — Our  Russian  Guests — A  Series  of  Dinner 
Parties— Duties  of  a  Cossack  Escort— A  Perilous  Adven- 
ture— The  Hero  of  Devoi  Boyun — We  leave  the  Con- 
sulate— Fate's  Irony  at  the  Last — Death  of  General 
Heymann 358 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

CHAPTER    XV. 

THE    END    OF   THE   WAR. 

PAGE 

Helping  Sick  Russians — A  Squalid  Scene — Work  of 
the  Russian  Doctors — Melikoff's  Appreciation — Arrival 
of  the  Red  Cross  Staff— A  Novel  Candlestick— Great 
Explosion — The  Erzeroum  Fire  Brigade — Preparations 
for  our  Departure — A  Practical  Joke  on  a  Persian — A 
Pleasant  Interlude — The  Princess  at  Erzeroum — Mr. 
Zohrab's  Library  comes  in  Useful — Our  Spanish  Widow 
—Riding  on  a  Pack-saddle— A  Slow  March— The  Widow 
meets  with  Accidents — Restricted  Sleeping  Accommoda- 
tion— We  turn  Two  Corpses  out  of  Bed — End  of  a  Pack- 
horse— My  Cats  from  Van— The  Valley  of  Pear  Trees— 
Trebizond  at  last  ,  ....  388 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

CONCLUSION. 

We  fly  from  the  Widow— Arrival  at  Constantinople- 
English  Philanthropy — The  Baroness  Burdett-Coutts — 
First  Acquaintance  with  a  well  known  Actress — Osman 
Pasha  back  again — The  Turkish  Skobeleff — A  much 
perforated  Paletot— Captain  Morisot's  Career— A 
Romantic  Escape— On  Board  the  Gamboge— We  reach 
Smyrna — Mr.  and  Mrs.  Zohrab — A  Sympathetic  English- 
woman—Zara  Dilber  Effendi — Back  in  London — 
Patriotic  Ditties — An  Incredulous  Music-hall  Proprietor 
— Non  e  Vero — Bowling  out  a  Story-teller  .  .  .  414 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 
CHARLES  s.  RYAN,  M.B.,  C.M.,  EDiN Frontispiece 

MAP   OF   PLEVNA  AND   ITS   ENVIRONS    ....  Facing  p.   136 
„       „     TREBIZOND  AND  ERZEROUM  „  348 


UNDER  THE  RED  CRESCENT. 


CHAPTER    I. 

FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

Autobiographical— My  Wanderjahr— First  Glimpse  of  Servians- 
Rome — A  Prospective  Mother-in-law — Sad  Result  of  eating 
Chops — A  Spanish  Poet — The  Chance  of  a  Lifetime — How 
I  seized  it— Garcia's  Gold  Watch— The  Via  del  Poppo— Off 
to  London — Engaged  by  the  Turkish  Government — Vienna 
revisited— Stamboul— Origin  of  the  Crescent— Misserie's 
Hotel— The  Turkish  Character— A  Splendid  Belvedere— View 
from  the  Seraskierat  Tower — Scutari  and  Florence  Nightin- 
gale— Stamboul  by  Day  and  Night — Scene  in  a  Bazaar — 
Three  Sundays  a  Week — A  Trip  to  Sweet  Waters — Veiled 
Beauties — I  am  gazetted  to  a  Regiment — An  Official  Dinner 
— Off  to  the  Front — A  Compulsory  Shave — My  Charger — The 
March  to  Sofia — My  First  Patient — Prescription  for  a  Malin- 
gerer— Mehemet  AH — My  Soldier  Servant — Diagnosing  my 
Cases — Bulgarians  at  Home — At  Sofia — MacGahan  the  War 
Correspondent — Learning  .Turkish — A  Dinner  in  Camp — 
Leniency  to  Bulgarians — A  Lady  Patient — So  near  and 
yet  so  far — From  Pirot  to  Nish — The  Wounded — My  First 
Operation. 

PEOPLE  have  often  asked  me  how  it  was  that 
I,  an  Australian,  came  to  take  a  part  in  the 
defence  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  and  to  serve 

i 


^  MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

as  a  military  surgeon  under  the  Red  Crescent, 
which,  as  every  one  knows,  is  the  Turkish  equiva- 
lent of  the  Red  Cross  of  the  Geneva  Convention. 
Red  Cross  and  Red  Crescent  are  alike  the 
symbols  of  a  humanitarian  spirit,  in  which  philo- 
sophers and  students  of  ethics  profess  to  see  the 
small  beginnings  of  a  future  age  of  universal 
peace  ;  but  as  for  me,  I  have  seen  how  Cossacks 
and  Circassians  fight,  and  I  cannot  help  regard- 
ing the  future  prophesied  by  the  philosopher 
as  an  impossible  dream.  When  one  has  seen  a 
soldier  of  a  civilized  force  sawing  off  the  head  of 
a  wounded  but  still  living  enemy  with  the  edge 
of  his  sword-bayonet,  it  requires  an  unusually 
optimistic  nature  to  believe  in  the  abolition  of 
war  and  a  perpetual  comity  of  nations. 

It  was  as  the  outcome  of  my  Wander jahr — the 
sweet  old  German  custom  which  sends  every 
young  man  roaming  when  he  has  completed 
the  technical  training  of  his  future  avocation — 
that  I  first  smelt  powder  and  saw  the  glint  of 
the  Russian  bayonets.  The  Wanderjahr  of  the 
German  seems  to  be  an  unconscious  survival  of 
the  nomadic  instinct  of  primitive  man — a  small 
concession,  as  it  were,  to  the  roving  habits  that 
took  his  ancestors  the  Huns  and  Visigoths  to 
Rome.  It  lets  a  young  man  escape  from  the 
fixed  atmosphere  of  "  staying  point,"  as  our 
American  friends  call  it  in  one  locality,  into  the 
"  largior  aether,"  the  wider  life  of  travel.  And 


1876-7.]  MY    WANDERJAHR.  3 

here  I  must  be  excused  for   introducing  a  little 
bit  of  necessary  autobiography. 

I  must  record  that,  after  spending  three  years 
at  the  Melbourne  University,  I  went  to  Edinburgh 
to  finish  my  medical  course ;  and  having  taken 
my  degree  there,  I  was  launched  at  the  age  of 
one  and  twenty,  as  an  expressive  colloquialism 
puts  it,  "  on  my  own  hook."  Thus  it  was  that  I 
began  a  period  of  wandering  over  Europe  which 
ultimately  landed  me  in  my  ambulance  at  Plevna 
in  July,  1877.  I  need  not  dwell  upon  those  early 
travels,  except  to  say  that  the  allowance  which 
my  father  made  me  enabled  me  to  go  far  and  to 
see  much.  Like  Odysseus  of  old,  I  could  say 
that  "  many  were  the  men  whose  manners  I  saw 
and  whose  cities  I  knew." 

After  a  run  round  Norway  and  Sweden,  I 
spent  a  few  months  in  Bohemian  Paris,  and  then 
went  on  to  Bonn,  where  I  attended  the  clinic  of 
Professor  Busch,  and  indulged  in  all  sorts  of 
romantic  visions  under  the  shadow  of  the  castled 
crag  of  Drachenfels  and  the  Sieben  Gebirge. 
Next  I  made  my  way  down  to  Vienna,  where  the 
sight  of  some  Servians  in  their  national  costume 
gave  me  my  first  glimpse  into  the  romance  of  the 
proud  and  chivalrous  peoples  of  the  Balkan  States, 
and  fired  me  with  a  desire  to  see  Constantinople 
itself.  During  those  months  at  Vienna  I  knew 
my  "  Schb'ne  Blaue  Donau "  well,  and  often 
made  excursions  as  far  as  Pressburg  and  Buda- 


4  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

Pesth,  looking  forward  to  the  day  when  I  could 
get  an  opportunity  to  follow  the  great  water- 
way down  to  Rustchuk,  and  so  into  Turkish 
territory.  But  for  the  time  being  I  got  no 
chance,  and  travelled  instead  through  Styria  and 
Bavaria,  finally  turning  southward,  and  finishing 
in  Rome. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  I  met  a  Spanish 
surgeon,  Senhor  Garcia  C ,  who  was  con- 
nected incidentally  with  the  events  immediately 
leading  up  to  my  appointment  as  a  surgeon  to  the 
Turkish  troops.  He  was  a  delightful  companion, 
but  improvident  in  money  matters  ;  and  I  hope 
he  will  pardon  me  after  this  lapse  of  years  for 
disclosing  the  fact  that  he  made  me  his  banker, 
inasmuch  as  it  reduced  me  to  such  a  low  financial 
ebb  that,  had  it  not  been  for  his  gold  watch,  I  am 
afraid  I  should  never  have  seen  the  inside  of  the 
Grivitza  redoubt.  I  remember  that  he  and  I 
put  up  when  at  Rome  in  a  very  fashionable  and 
exclusive  "  pension,"  to  which  I  had  been  intro- 
duced by  a  French  count  whom  I  met  in  Paris. 
I  was  always  regarded,  perhaps  on  account  of  my 
name,  as  a  good  Roman  Catholic ;  and  but  for 
an  unfortunate  little  contretemps  I  might  have 
married  into  a  princely  Italian  family  there  and 
then,  and  never  had  to  eat  dead  horse  on  a 
campaign  at  all. 

It  was  this  way.  Among  the  other  residents 
in  the  "  pension  "  was  an  old  Italian  marchioness, 


1876-7.]  A    PROSPECTIVE    MOTHER-IN-LAW.  5 

who  had  brought  her  two  daughters  to  Rome 
to  introduce  them  to  his  Holiness  the  Pope. 
She  was  kind  enough  to  take  a  great  interest 
in  me  ;  and  there  is  no  knowing  what  might 
have  happened — the  elder  daughter  was  really 
a  charming  girl — if  it  had  not  been  for  that 
unlucky  incident  of  the  mutton  chops.  On  the 
second  Friday  that  I  was  there  an  elderly 
Scotch  lady,  who  was  a  rigid  Presbyterian,  and 
took  no  trouble  to  conceal  the  aversion  with 
which  she  regarded  all  Papists,  ordered  mutton 
chops  in  the  middle  of  the  day  for  her  lunch. 
When  I  came  in  from  a  visit  to  the  Vatican  I 
was  very  hungry.  The  chops  were  brought  in, 
and  they  smelt  very  good  ;  so,  as  the  Scotch  lady 
was  late,  I  forgot  the  consideration  due  to  age 
and  rigid  Presbyterianism,  I  forgot  my  scruples 
as  a  supposed  good  Catholic,  I  forgot  that  it 
was  Friday — and  I  ate  them.  Next  day  the 
marchioness  stuck  me  up  in  a  corner,  and  asked 
me  how  I  could  disgrace  myself  by  eating  grilled 
chops  on  a  Friday ;  she  led  me  to  understand 
that  I  had  deceived  her,  and  she  withdrew  an 
invitation  which  she  had  given  me  to  visit  her 
and  renew  my  acquaintance  with  her  charming 
daughter.  Thus  ended  my  first  and  last  chance 
of  a  dukedom. 

After  a  few  weeks  in  Rome,  I  began  to  get 
seriously  embarrassed  from  a  financial  point  of 
view.  Garcia  was  a  charming  fellow  ;  but  he 


6  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

was  a  poet,  and,  like  all  poets,  he  had  expensive 
habits.  He  even  challenged  me  to  a  duel  once 
for  laughing  at  some  of  his  verses  ;  but  when  I 
threatened  to  kick  him,  he  fell  on  my  neck  and 
embraced  me.  However,  my  purse  was  not  long 
enough  to  sustain  the  two  of  us,  and  I  was  sitting 
in  a  little  cafe"  one  day  considering  the  position  and 
glancing  idly  over  the  Times,  when  my  eye  fell 
on  an  advertisement  announcing  that  the  Turkish 
Government  had  vacancies  for  twenty  military 
surgeons,  and  inviting  applications.  I  read  the 
advertisement  again  with  delight,  and  at  once 
determined  to  send  in  an  application.  Here  was 
a  chance  of  seeing  life  with  a  vengeance.  But 
my  spirits  fell  at  once.  I  had  only  a  few  liras 
in  my  pocket ;  and  how  on  earth  was  I  to  get  to 

the  Turkish  Embassy  in  London  ?     C was 

in  his  usual  poetic  condition  of  impecuniosity,  and 
I  was  afraid  to  think  how  much  he  owed  me. 
But  I  could  not  afford  to  be  chivalrous,  or  I  might 
lose  the  opportunity  of  a  lifetime  ;  so  I  tackled 
him  at  once.  He  assured  me  with  tears  in  his 
eyes  that  he  had  not  even  the  price  of  a  flask  of 
Chianti  in  his  pockets ;  but  I  was  inexorable.  I 
pointed  out  to  him  that  he  had  a  very  fine  gold 
watch, — it  was  really  a  remarkably  valuable  time- 
piece, and  had  come  down  to  him  as  an  heirloom 
from  some  haughty  old  Castilian  grandee.  I 
impressed  upon  him  that  a  gold  watch  is  a  most 
unsuitable  adornment  to  a  penniless  person,  who 


1876-7.]  THE    VIA    DEL    POPPO.  7 

is  moreover  in  debt,  and  I  indicated  to  him  a 
means  by  which  it  could  be  converted  into 
currency  of  the  realm.  I  think  he  felt  it  very 
much,  poor  fellow  ;  but  it  was  not  a  time  for  being 
over-scrupulous,  and  the  heirloom  of  the  Hidalgo 
of  old  Castile  was  duly  deposited  with  the  Roman 
equivalent  for  "my  uncle"  in  a  small  and  stuffy 
establishment  situated  in  a  narrow  street  with 
the  suggestive  name  of  the  Via  del  Poppo.  In 
return  we  received  twenty-five  napoleons — it 
was  certainly  an  extremely  handsome  watch. 
Garcia  gave  me  enough  to  take  me  to  Neuchatel, 
where  I  counted  on  receiving  fresh  supplies, 
and  I  let  him  keep  the  balance.  So  I  left  my 
Spaniard  with  a  flask  of  wine  before  him  in  the 
city  of  the  Caesars,  and  I  never  saw  him  again. 
Peace  be  to  his  soul!  He  was  intended  by 
nature  for  an  Irishman. 

I  wanted  to  go  through  to  Neuchatel ;  but  when 
I  got  to  Turin,  there  was  a  fresh  difficulty  to 
be  overcome.  The  Po  had  overflowed  its  banks, 
and  the  railway  was  washed  away,  so  that  there 
was  no  possibility  of  continuing  the  journey  until 
next  morning.  I  had  not  enough  money  to  go 
to  a  hotel,  so  I  walked  about  the  streets  of 
Turin  all  night.  Shakespeare  has  something 
to  say  about  people  who 

wallow  naked  in  December  snow 
By  thinking  on  fantastic  summer's  heat. 

And   as    I     wandered    through    the    cold,    dark 


8  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

streets  of  Turin,  I  warmed  myself  by  imagination 
in  the  sunbeams  that  played  on  the  gilded  pin- 
nacles of  the  Seraglio  and  the  marble  towers  of 
St.  Sophia  in  far  away  Stamboul. 

At  Neuchatel  I  found  supplies  awaiting  me  at 
the  post  office,  and  I  hurried  across  to  London 
at   once,  where  I  sought  out  the  late  Mr.  J.  E. 
Francis,  of  Melbourne,  who  was  an  old  friend  of 
my  father,  and  asked  his  advice  about  going  to 
Constantinople.       "  Go  by   all    means,    my    dear 
boy,"  was  his  cheery  reply ;  "  and  I  will  tell  your 
father  that   I  advised  you  to  take   the   chance." 
I   had   excellent  credentials  from   my  professors 
in  Edinburgh ;  and  armed  with  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  Dr.   Forbes,   who  was  the  doctor  to 
the  Turkish  Embassy,  I  presented  myself  at  the 
embassy,  and  sought  an  interview  with  Musurus 
Pasha,  then  the  Turkish  ambassador  in  London. 
The   ambassador   was   engaged ;  but    I    had   an 
audience  with  one  of  his  sons,  and  two  days  after- 
wards   I    was  en  route  for  Constantinople,   with 
£,25    for  expenses  in  my  pocket,  and  an  agree- 
ment with   the  Turkish  Government  to  perform 
the   duties   of  a  military   surgeon  at  a  salary  of 
^200  a  year,  paid  monthly  in  gold.     They  gave 
me  a  letter  to  the  Seraskierat,  or  War  Office,  at 
Constantinople,  and  instructed  me  to  report  my- 
self there  for  duty  forthwith.     Among  the  other 
nineteen  selected  applicants  were   two   whom    I 
knew,  one  named  Geoffrey,  and  a  fellow  named 


1876-7.]  VIENNA    REVISITED.  9 

Stephenson,  who  had  been  at  Edinburgh  with  me. 
Naturally  I  was  in  high  spirits  at  my  success  ;  and 
when  I  reached  Vienna  and  looked  up  all  my  old 
pals,  we  had  a  great  day  on  the  Danube  on 
the  occasion  of  the  first  regatta  held  there,  and 
finished  up  with  fireworks  and  other  jollifications 
in  the  evening.  After  a  couple  of  days  at  Vienna, 
we  went  through  Buda-Pesth  and  Belgrade  to 
Bazias,  where  we  took  steamer  and  voyaged 
down  the  Danube  to  Rustchuk. 

What  a  magnificent  trip  it  was  !  I  knew  the 
Rhine  pretty  well  while  I  was  at  Bonn  :  I  re- 
membered the  great  stream  that  tumbled  over  the 
falls  of  Schaffhausen  beyond  Mainz,  swept  along 
past  St.  Goar  and  Bingen,  the  home  of  that 
soldier  of  the  legion  who  lay  dying  in  Algiers, 
down  to  Coblenz,  where  Marceau  fell,  and 
Ehrenbreitstein,  the  great  fortress  that  now  no 
longer  frowns  threateningly  out  towards  France. 
I  remembered  the  castles  perched  high  on  the 
beetling  cliffs,  and  how  strange  the  setting  sun 
used  to  look  when  seen  through  their  deserted 
windows.  I  recalled  the  haunted  spot  where  the 
Loreley  used  to  sing,  and  the  towering  heights 
of  the  Drachenfels,  where  the  hills  finally  ceased, 
leaving  the  river  to  broaden  out  and  flow  more 
sluggishly  between  the  low-lying  banks  down 
to  Bonn  and  to  Cologne,  and  thence  away  to- 
wards the  misty  flats  and  the  grey  distances  of 
Holland.  But  to  my  excited  fancy,  fired  as  I 


10  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

was  by  the  prospect  of  being  brought  under  the 
spell  and  the  glamour  of  Islam  and  of  serving 
under  the  Mussulman  flag,  the  recollection  of  the 
fairy-like  beauty  of  the  Rhine  faded  before  the 
dark  grandeur  of  the  river  that  was  bearing  me 
farther  with  every  revolution  of  the  paddle-wheels 
from  European  associations,  and  nearer  to  strange, 
new  experiences  among  the  subjects  of  the 
Shadow  of  God.  At  times  we  steamed  through 
fairly  open  reaches,  and  at  times  through  seething 
rapids,  with  the  dark  water  swirling  about  the 
bows,  and  the  still  darker  cliffs  rising  till  they 
almost  seemed  to  touch  over  our  heads. 

It  was  a  two  days'  voyage  down  to  Rustchuk  ; 
and  I  shall  never  forget  my  sensations  when  I 
caught  my  first  glimpse  of  Turkish  troops  on 
one  of  the  islands  in  the  middle  of  the  stream. 
Among  my  fellow  passengers  was  a  Mr.  Jeune 
(now  Sir  Francis  Jeune).  He  had  been  out  in 
Australia  as  counsel  in  the  Tichborne  case,  and 
had  met  my  father.  When  he  heard  that  I 
came  from  Australia,  he  took  an  interest  in  me, 
and  I  found  in  him  a  sympathetic  listener  as  I 
confided  my  ambitions  to  him.  Among  the  others 
on  board  with  me  were  Captain  the  Honourable 
Randolph  Stewart,  a  Queen's  Messenger  going 
down  with  despatches  to  Constantinople,  and 
several  of  my  professional  brethren,  including 
Dr.  George  Stoker,  brother  of  Bram  Stoker, 
Sir  Henry  Irving's  manager,  Dr.  Simon  Eccles, 


1876-7.]  STAMBOUL.  I  I 

a  well  known  London  physician,  and  a  Dr. 
Butler,  an  eccentric  old  fellow  who  had  been 
in  the  Crimea.  There  were  a  number  of  pretty 
Roumanian  women  on  board  too,  and  altogether 
we  had  a  jolly  party. 

At  Rustchuk  we  took  the  train  for  Varna, 
the  seaport  on  the  Black  Sea  which  was  our 
point  of  embarkation  for  Constantinople ;  and 
here  I  remember  old  Dr.  Butler  lost  his  ticket, 
and  the  Queen's  Messenger  had  to  use  all  his 
influence  to  prevent  an  angry  little  Turkish 
station-master  from  "  running  him  in."  At  last, 
however,  we  were  all  safely  on  board  an  Austrian 
Lloyd's  steamer  for  the  last  stage  of  our  journey, 
a  short  voyage  of  twelve  hours  ;  and  I  got  my 
first  insight  into  polygamous  Turkey  by  dis- 
covering an  aged  Turk  who  came  on  board  with 
his  harem,  a  huddling  little  band  of  beauties 
veiled  to  the  eyes,  who  were  housed  in  a  sort  of 
canvas  tent  on  deck,  and  at  whose  faces  I  made 
several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  get  a  peep. 

Next  morning  we  saw  Stamboul  rising  out  of 
the  Bosphorus,  and  my  dreams  were  at  last  ful- 
filled. Fresh,  as  one  might  say,  from  Melbourne, 
which  forty  years  before  was  a  camping-ground 
for  blacks,  I  saw  before  me  in  this  gorgeous  vision 
of  mosques  and  minarets,  dark  green  cypress 
groves,  towers  of  gleaming  marble,  and  gilded 
pinnacles  of  the  far  Seraglio,  a  city  of  unknown 
antiquity.  The  story  goes  that,  more  than  three 


12  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  the 
Athenians,  inspired  by  the  burning  eloquence  of 
Demosthenes,  fought  to  defend  it  against  Philip 
of  Macedon.  One  dark  night,  so  the  veracious 
historians  of  that  period  tell  us,  the  Macedonians 
were  on  the  point  of  carrying  the  city  by  assault, 
when  a  shining  crescent  appeared  in  the  sky, 
disclosed  the  creeping  forms  of  the  enemy,  and 
enabled  the  beleaguered  forces  to  repel  the 
attack  with  such  vigour  that  the  Macedonians 
raised  the  siege  and  retired.  Such  was  the 
origin  of  the  crescent  which  figures  on  old 
Byzantine  coins,  and  when  the  Osmanlis  captured 
Constantinople  they  adopted  it  as  their  national 
device.  It  is  a  pretty  story,  and  well — "  si  non  e 
vero  e  ben  trovato."  I  saw  before  me  a  city 
which  had  already  been  besieged  twenty-four 
times  since  its  foundation  and  captured  six  times. 
Among  others,  Persians,  Spartans,  Athenians, 
Romans,  Avars,  Arabs,  Russians,  Crusaders,  and 
Greeks  had  besieged  it  before  it  fell  at  last  under 
the  terrific  assault  of  the  forces  of  Mahomed  II. 
in  1453.  I  landed  at  Galata,  the  port  of  Pera, 
which  is  separated  from  Stamboul  proper  by  the 
Golden  Horn,  and  went  straight  up  to  Misserie's 
Hotel,  which  is  to  Constantinople  what  Shep- 
heard's  Hotel  is  to  Cairo,  one  of  the  famous 
hostelries  of  the  world. 

Next  day  we  reported  ourselves  at  the  War 
Office.     We  were  shown  into  a  room  where  four 


1877].  I    RECEIVE    MY    COMMISSION.  13 

or  five  old  pashas  were  sitting  cross-legged  on 
divans,  and  we  handed  in  our  credentials.  We 
presented  our  respects  through  the  medium  of  an 
interpreter,  and  I  was  told  to  leave  my  address 
and  hold  myself  in  readiness  for  active  service  at 
once  in  the  Servian  war,  which  had  then  been 
going  on  for  about  six  weeks. 

I  was  no  longer  a  civilian.  I  was  now  commis- 
sioned as  a  military  surgeon  in  the  service  of  the 
Sublime  Porte,  and  engaged  in  a  practice  which  in- 
cluded some  three  hundred  thousand  patients  more 
or  less,  of  whose  language  I  was  entirely  ignorant, 
and  of  whose  manners  all  previous  impressions 
had  taught  me  to  be  suspicious.  It  is  right  to 
say  here,  at  the  outset,  that  my  experience  of 
over  two  years  among  the  Turks  proved  to  me 
that  the  estimate  formed  of  their  character  by 
other  reputedly  more  civilized  nations  was  entirely 
false  and  misleading.  That  there  was  a  large 
amount  of  corruption  in  the  officialdom  of  Turkey 
at  that  time  was  no  doubt  true ;  but  the  real 
samples  of  national  character,  the  men  in  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  army,  I  found  to  be  simple- 
minded,  courteous,  honourable,  and  honest  in  time 
of  peace,  while  braver  men  on  the  battle-field  than 
those  who  fought  under  Osman  Pasha  at  Plevna 
are  not  to  be  found  in  Europe.  The  magnificent 
physique  and  robust  constitution  of  the  ordinary 
Turkish  private  soldiers  I  believe  to  be  due  mainly 
to  two  causes.  In  the  first  place  they  never 


14  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

touch  alcohol,  and  in  the  second  the  traditions 
of  Turkish  social  life  and  the  rigid  guardianship 
exercised  over  Turkish  women  have  effectually 
kept  out  the  scrofulous  taint  which  has  so 
appreciably  affected  the  populations  of  other 
European  nationalities. 

Having  been  gazetted  at  once  as  an  army 
surgeon  with  the  rank  of  colghassi,  or  major, 
which  entitled  me,  among  other  privileges,  to  draw 
rations  for  four  men,  I  left  the  luxuries  of 
Misserie's  Hotel  behind  me,  and  installed  myself 
in  the  barracks  close  to  the  War  Office,  with 
a  determination  to  see  as  much  as  possible  of 
Stamboul  before  we  were  ordered  to  the  front. 

There  are  few  cities  in  the  world  where  night- 
fall makes  such  a  difference  as  in  Stamboul.  By 
day  the  surroundings  of  the  city  as  well  as  the 
city  itself  make  up  a  kind  of  earthly  paradise.  I 
climbed  the  tower  of  the  Seraskierat,  and  gazed 
with  astonishment  at  the  panorama  which  lay 
before  me.  I  saw  two  seas,  the  Black  Sea  and 
the  Sea  of  Marmora ;  two  straits,  the  Bosphorus 
and  the  Dardanelles  ;  two  gulfs,  the  Gulf  of  Ismet 
and  the  Gulf  of  Nicodema.  At  my  feet  lay 
twenty  different  cities,  the  houses  of  which, 
painted  with  the  true  Oriental  love  of  bright 
colours,  nestled  against  a  background  of  hills 
clothed  with  patches  of  dark  cypress  and  tall, 
spiry  pines.  Before  me  was  the  spot  where  two 
continents  meet ;  and  as  my  eye  passed  from  the 


is/?-]  STAMBOUL    BY    DAY    AND    BY    NIGHT.  15 

streets  of  Stamboul  in  Europe  to  Scutari  lying 
yonder  across  the  mouth  of  the  Bosphorus  in 
Asia,  I  realized  how  the  tide  of  Eastern  thought 
had  swept  across  the  waters  of  this  narrow  strait, 
and  left  its  mark  indelibly  upon  the  strange  people 
among  whom  I  had  come  to  take  the  chances  of 
the  battle-field.  I  knew  too  that  across  there  in 
Scutari  was  the  burial-ground  where  the  bones 
of  those  English  officers  and  men  who  died  in 
hospital  after  the  Crimea  lay  buried,  and  I  felt 
that  with  the  brave  dead  of  my  own  race  so 
near  me  I  was  in  good  company.  The  old  mili- 
tary hospital  at  Scutari  has  been  turned  into 
barracks  now  ;  but  the  room  which  Miss  Florence 
Nightingale  occupied  while  she  was  performing 
her  mission  of  mercy  to  the  wounded  there  is 
still  preserved  untouched,  while  her  name  is  kept 
in  affectionate  remembrance  by  the  sons  of  many 
whom  she  nursed  back  to  life,  or  whose  last  hours 
she  soothed  with  womanly  ministering.  As  I 
looked  out  upon  the  landscape,  I  saw  it  set  in  the 
clear  atmosphere  of  Southern  Europe,  so  that 
every  separate  minaret  stood  sharply  out  and 
the  marble  domes  of  St.  Sophia  glistened  in  the 
bright  sunlight. 

All  is  warmth  and  colour,  life  and  brightness, 
in  Stamboul  by  day.  By  night,  however,  the 
difference  is  appalling.  The  streets  were  never 
lighted,  and  people  were  not  supposed  to  be  out 
after  nine  o'clock.  If  one  went  out  at  all,  one 


1 6  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

went  at  one's  own  risk,  and  took  the  chance 
of  attack  by  any  of  the  thousands  of  stray  dogs 
that  prowl  at  will  about  the  city  and  camp  un- 
disturbed in  the  streets.  To  one  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  Paris  and  Vienna,  where  it  is 
never  night  in  this  sense,  where  gas  and  arc 
lamps  form  an  admirable  substitute  for  sunlight, 
and  where  the  patter  of  feet  on  the  trottoirs  and 
the  hum  of  human  life  in  the  caf<£s  are  practically 
ceaseless,  the  sensation  of  wandering  through 
these  dark,  deserted  streets  among  hordes  of 
starving  curs  was  a  strange  one.  By  day  Con- 
stantinople is  modern,  pulsating,  alive.  By  night, 
with  those  dogs  about,  it  is  like  one  of  those 
deserted  cities  of  a  long  forgotten  civilization,  in 
which  Briton  Riviere  shows  us  the  panther  and 
the  tiger  that  have  taken  the  place  of  man. 

During  my  stay  in  Stamboul  I  often  walked 
through  the  bazaars,  where  solemn  old  Turks  in 
baggy  breeches  sought  to  swindle  me  with  polite 
decorum,  and  where  the  whole  atmosphere 
breathed  of  the  Arabian  Nights.  One  half 
expected  to  see  Prince  Camaralzaman  come 
swaggering  down  the  street,  with  his  scimitar 
clanking  on  the  pavement  behind  him  ;  or  Amina 
or  Zobeide,  heavily  veiled,  and  with  only  her 
dark  eyes  showing  through  the  yashmak's  folds, 
slide  past  demurely  with  a  sidelong  glance  at 
the  stranger  from  the  West. 

The  population  of  Constantinople  do  not  believe 


i877-]  "SWEET    WATERS.  17 

in  overwork  ;  and  for  business  purposes  there  are 
practically  three  Sundays  in  the  week — namely, 
the  Turkish  Sunday,  which  falls  on  our  Friday  ; 
the  Jewish  Sunday,  which  falls  on  Saturday ;  and 
the  Christian  Sunday.  I  went  out  one  day  to  the 
"  Sweet  Waters,"  a  favourite  picnic  place  near  the 
head  of  the  Golden  Horn,  where  the  Turkish 
women  and  children  enjoy  their  holiday  under 
the  trees,  and  the  real  Turkey  lolly-men  drive  a 
thriving  trade  in  sweetmeats  and  sherbet.  It  was 
curious  to  note  how  the  veneer  of  Western  social 
routine  was  superimposed  upon  the  changeless 
institutions  of  the  East.  I  saw  the  ladies  from 
the  harems  of  sundry  wealthy  Turkish  gentlemen 
driving  out  to  "  Sweet  Waters  "  in  the  afternoon 
in  carriages  as  perfectly  appointed  as  any  that 
roll  through  Hyde  Park  or  the  Bois  de  Boulogne 
in  the  height  of  the  London  or  Paris  season. 
Two  ladies  from  one  harem  generally  occupied 
one  carriage  ;  and  the  gigantic  eunuch  on  the 
box,  who  was  responsible  for  them  while  they 
were  out  under  his  charge,  would  use  his  London 
carriage  whip  without  hesitation  on  the  heads 
and  shoulders  of  any  young  Turkish  or  Giaour 
mashers  who  attempted  to  make  eyes  at  the 
closely  guarded  beauties. 

I  spent  many  a  pleasant  hour  too  in  the  long, 
narrow  caiques  that  plied  for  hire  on  the  waters 
of  the  Golden  Horn  like  the  gondolas  of  Venice  ; 
but  I  still  had  much  to  see  when,  after  a  week's 


l8  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

stay,  an  official  communication  was  handed  to  me 
informing  me  that  I  had  been  appointed  regimental 
surgeon  to  the  Kyrchehir  Regiment,  so  named 
from  the  town  in  Asia  Minor  where  it  had  been 
raised.  I  packed  my  portmanteau  at  once,  and 
followed  the  messenger,  who  led  me  to  the  barracks 
where  the  regiment  was  quartered,  and  where  I 
was  introduced  to  my  new  colonel.  He  was  most 
polite,  and  invited  me  to  have  supper  with  him  ; 
and  then  it  was  that  I  had  my  first  really  Turkish 
meal.  I  cannot  truthfully  say  that  I  enjoyed  it ; 
and  when  my  host,  to  mark  the  warmth  of  his 
hospitality,  picked  up  a  piece  of  chicken  off  his 
own  plate  in  his  fingers  and  placed  it  in  my  mouth, 
I  must  confess  that  I  almost  spoilt  all  my  chances 
of  a  distinguished  military  career  by  an  instan- 
taneous attack  of  nausea.  I  spent  the  night  in 
the  barracks  tossing  sleeplessly  on  a  divan,  and 
soon  after  daybreak  marched  down  with  my 
regiment  to  the  railway  station. 

The  regiment,  which  was  eight  hundred  strong, 
was  officered  by  a  colonel,  two  majors,  eight  cap- 
tains, sixteen  lieutenants,  and  a  paymaster.  When 
the  process  of  entraining  was  completed,  I  found 
myself  en  route  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  for 
a  destination  of  which  I  knew  nothing,  and  in 
company  with  a  regiment  of  troops  who  were  as 
ignorant  of  English  as  I  was  of  Turkish.  I  was 
accommodated  in  a  compartment  with  the  colonel, 
the  two  majors,  and  the  paymaster,  Mehemet  Ali, 


I877-]  OFF    TO    THE    FRONT.  19 

with  whom  I  afterwards  chummed  up  and  lived 
on  terms  of  the  closest  friendship.  It  was 
decidedly  awkward,  however,  at  first  ;  for  as  the 
Turkish  officers  could  speak  neither  French  nor 
German,  all  communications  between  us  had  to 
be  by  signs.  The  men  were  packed  closely 
together,  and  the  train  crawled  slowly  on  towards 
the  terminus,  stopping  for  one  hour  in  every  three. 
We  were  three  days  and  two  nights  on  the 
journey  towards  Tatar  Bazardjik,  and  I  had  plenty 
of  time  and  opportunities  for  forming  an  opinion 
as  to  the  kind  of  men  with  whom  my  lot  was  cast. 
I  found  that  these  men,  who  were  all  conscripts, 
formed  the  second  regiment  which  had  been  raised 
at  Kyrchehir,  and  fine  fellows  they  were.  I 
could  have  picked  fifty  men  from  among  them  who 
were  as  grand  specimens  of  physical  humanity 
as  could  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world.  They 
were  all  well  clothed  in  the  serviceable  infantry 
uniform,  and  were  armed  with  the  Martini- 
Peabody  rifle. 

We  camped  each  night  at  a  railway  station, 
and  I  remember  on  the  morning  of  the  second 
day  seeing  an  old  pasha  who  was  organizing 
troops  locally  come  galloping  down  to  inspect  us. 
Our  regiment  was  paraded,  and  the  pasha  rode 
down  the  lines  scanning  the  men  closely.  Pre- 
sently he  spotted  me,  and,  seeing  at  a  glance  that 
I  was  not  a  Turk,  he  addressed  a  question  to 
the  colonel,  who  evidently  replied  that  I  was  their 


20  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

new  English  surgeon.  The  pasha  trotted  up  to 
where  I  stood  at  attention,  and  addressed  some 
incoherent  query  to  me  ;  but  as  I  could  not  even 
conjecture  what  it  was  all  about,  I  imitated  the 
gentleman  whom  Tennyson  speaks  of,  and  "  smil- 
ing put  the  question  by."  I  thought  that  the 
old  pasha  looked  hurt ;  but  the  mystery  was  soon 
cleared  up  by  the  arrival  of  his  own  private 
barber  with  razor,  soap,  and  brush.  It  seemed 
that  "  side  boards "  were  not  allowed  in  the 
Turkish  army,  and  the  small  hairy  appendages 
which  covered  my  youthful  cheeks,  and  of  which, 
to  tell  the  truth,  I  was  rather  proud,  had  deeply 
offended  the  old  pasha's  trained  sense  of  order. 
So  I  had  to  submit  myself  to  the  pasha's  barber, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  the  offensive  adornments 
were  removed,  and  I  could  no  longer  be  distin- 
guished from  any  of  my  Turkish  colleagues. 

At  last  we  reached  Tatar  Bazardjik  at  eleven 
o'clock  at  night ;  and  as  there  was  no  accommoda- 
tion at  the  railway  station,  camp-fires  were  lit,  and 
the  regiment  bivouacked  for  the  night.  Next 
morning  at  five  o'clock  I  was  roused  up,  and  the 
colonel  brought  up  four  horses,  giving  me  to 
understand  by  signs  that  I  was  to  select  one 
for  a  charger.  I  chose  a  little  grey  stallion,  a 
powerful  animal,  with  a  look  of  endurance  about 
him.  He  had  a  heavy  Turkish  peaked  saddle 
on  him,  a  most  uncomfortable  thing  to  ride  in 
until  one  gets  used  to  it ;  but  there  was  no  choice 


1877-1  MY    FIRST    PATIENT.  21 

in  the  matter,  so  I  had  to  make  myself  as  com- 
fortable in  it  as  I  could.  Then  we  started  on  the 
march  for  Sofia,  and  a  very  unpleasant  march  it 
was  at  first. 

It  was  then  the  month  of  June,  and  the 
weather  was  intensely  hot ;  while,  to  add  to  our 
discomforts,  a  terrific  duststorm  swept  down  on 
us  soon  after  leaving  the  bivouac,  filling  eyes, 
noses,  and  ears  with  fine,  impalpable  powder, 
and  getting  down  the  men's  throats  so  that  they 
could  hardly  breathe.  The  regiment  marched  all 
day,  and  of  course  I  assumed  that  a  good  many  of 
the  men  would  be  knocked  up  ;  but  at  five  o'clock 
we  halted,  and  pitched  camp  for  the  night,  having 
covered  about  twelve  miles  of  the  journey. 

Soon  after  the  tents  were  pitched  I  had  my 
first  patient  to  attend.  They  brought  up  a  man 
who  had  all  the  symptoms  of  an  ordinary  fit,  and 
I  had  to  make  up  my  mind  at  once  whether  it 
was  a  genuine  fit  or  whether  he  was  malingering 
to  avoid  duty.  It  seemed  to  be  a  real  fit,  and 
then  again  there  was  something  suspicious  about 
it.  I  knew  that  if  I  was  imposed  upon  at  the 
outset  I  should  have  endless  trouble,  so  I  took 
my  resolution  at  once,  and  explained  by  signs  to 
Colonel  Suleiman,  who  was  standing  by,  that  the 
man  was  shamming.  The  colonel's  remedy  for 
cases  of  this  kind  was  drastic,  but  very  effective. 
He  had  the  patient  sent  to  the  rear,  and  given  a 
round  three  dozen  with  a  stick  on  that  part  of  the 


22  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

person  which  schoolmasters  have  found  to  be 
especially  suited  for  the  receipt  of  chastisement. 
Of  course  the  word  was  quickly  passed  round,  and 
I  had  no  more  cases  of  fits  to  attend  to  during  the 
march. 

I  shared  a  tent  with  Mehemet  Ali,  the  pay- 
master, who  turned  out  to  be  a  really  good  fellow. 
He  was  a  little  man  with  a  very  fair  complexion 
— his  mother  was  a  Circassian — and  he  had 
twinkling  steel  grey  eyes.  He  was  the  strongest 
man  I  ever  met.  I  had  a  horse,  but  I  still  wanted 
a  servant,  so  Mehemet  Ali  brought  up  four  men 
for  my  inspection.  I  chose  a  man  named  Ahmet, 
an  Asiatic  Turk  and  a  married  man  with  five 
children.  He  turned  out  a  splendid  servant; 
but,  poor  fellow,  he  never  saw  his  home  again, 
and  his  bones  lie  buried  with  those  of  many  of 
his  countrymen  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube  at 
Widdin. 

Next  morning  I  was  given  to  understand  that 
I  should  have  to  see  a  number  of  patients  ;  how- 
ever, I  fortified  myself  with  two  or  three  Turkish 
phrases,  and  wrent  my  rounds  without  trepidation. 
My  diagnosis  was  in  each  case  remarkable  for 
simplicity,  and  I  asked  few  needless  questions. 
My  first  remark  was  invariably,  "  Dilli  nitchika," 
which  means,  "  Put  out  your  tongue."  If  the 
man  seemed  really  feverish  and  bad,  I  remarked 
authoritatively,  "  Hoiti  araba,"  which  means,  "  Go 
to  the  waggon,"  and  I  allowed  him  to  ride  in 


1877.]  BULGARIANS    AT    HOME.  23 

the  waggon  instead  of  route-marching.  If  I  had 
any  doubts  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the  indis- 
position, I  ejaculated  sharply,  "  Hoiti  balook," 
which  means,  "  Go  to  your  company."  Of  course 
all  the  men  who  were  really  ill  I  made  to  take 
two  paces  to  the  rear,  and  when  my  inspection 
was  finished  I  prescribed  for  them,  and  dispensed 
my  prescriptions  from  the  well  equipped  regi- 
mental medicine  chest. 

It  took  the  regiment  five  days  altogether  to 
march  to  Sofia,  the  colonel,  the  two  majors, 
the  paymaster,  an  adjutant,  and  myself  being 
the  only  mounted  officers.  At  first  the  route 
lay  through  mountainous  and  very  picturesque 
country,  heavily  timbered  with  pines,  beeches, 
elms,  and  walnuts.  The  walnut  trees  seemed  to 
grow  wild  throughout  the  country,  and  the  nuts 
were  in  great  profusion. 

One  night  we  stopped  at  the  Bulgarian  village 
of  Ichtiman,  and  for  the  first  time  I  saw  Bul- 
garians at  close  quarters  and  slept  in  a  Bulgarian 
house.  Dirt  appeared  to  be  the  national  char- 
acteristic of  Bulgaria,  and  a  cheerful  disregard 
of  all  sanitary  rules  a  leading  feature  in  the 
national  disposition.  For  size  and  ferocity  I 
have  never  seen  the  domestic  insects  of  Bulgaria 
equalled  ;  and  in  the  brief  armistices  which  oc- 
curred in  the  unequal  combats  of  that  horrible 
night,  I  longed  for  my  clean  and  cosy  quarters 
in  the  paymaster's  tent  again.  The  Bulgarian 


24  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

men  are  tall  and  fair,  and  the  samples  that  came 
under  my  notice  wore  huge  bonnets  of  black 
sheepskin  and  baggy  garments  of  a  kind  of  coarse 
yellow  frieze  of  their  own  weaving.  Instead  of 
boots  they  wore  sandals  laced  to  the  knee  in 
Spanish  fashion,  and  their  whole  appearance  was 
grimy  and  forbidding  to  a  degree.  Most  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  village  disappeared  into  the 
surrounding  hills  on  our  arrival,  and  the  few  who 
remained  forbore  to  present  us  with  an  address 
of  welcome  or  to  erect  a  triumphal  arch  in  our 
honour.  Sullenly  and  suspiciously  they  offered 
us  bowls  of  yuoart  to  eat,  a  horrible  sticky  mess 
made  of  curdled  milk,  of  which  I  partook  to  my 
subsequent  sorrow. 

At  last  we  came  in  sight  of  Sofia,  the  capital 
of  Bulgaria.  It  lay  at  the  farther  end  of  a  great 
plain  dotted  here  and  there  with  Bulgarian 
villages,  well  watered  by  a  river  running  through 
it,  and  nicely  timbered  like  a  great  park.  Against 
the  dark  background  of  the  hills,  to  use  a  pretty 
line  of  Tennyson's,  "  the  city  sparkled  like  a  grain 
of  salt."  Sofia  was  then  a  place  of  about  twenty 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  the  seat  of  government. 
At  one  time  the  famous  Midhat  Pasha  was  the 
governor  of  this  vilayet. 

The  regiment  moved  in  column  of  route  along 
the  main  road  through  the  plain  towards  the 
white  houses  glinting  in  the  sunshine,  every  man 
stepping  jauntily  as  the  close  of  the  long  march 


1877.]  LEARNING    TURKISH.  25 

drew  near.  But  Sofia  looked  better  at  a  distance 
than  it  did  under  our  noses.  At  that  time  there 
was  only  one  hotel  in  the  place,  a  filthy  little 
cabaret  kept  by  a  Greek,  whose  views  with 
regard  to  beds  and  meals  were  most  primitive. 
The  railway  runs  right  through  from  Stamboul 
to  Sofia  and  beyond  now,  and  French  cooking 
has  replaced  the  black  bread  and  beans  which 
formed  the  Spartan  fare  placed  before  his  guests 
by  that  "base  scion  of  a  noble  stock"  who  took 
us  in  and  "  did  for  us  "  in  '76. 

The  first  English-speaking  person  whom  I  met 
in  Sofia  was  MacGahan,  the  war  correspondent 
for  a  London  newspaper,  and  from  him  I  learnt 
at  last  where  I  was  and  what  was  happening 
round  us.  We  dined  together,  and  he  told  me 
how  the  Servians  had  been  beaten  all  along  the 
line.  I  found  that  there  were  four  other  Turkish 
regiments  besides  my  own  quartered  in  Sofia ; 
and  among  the  English  surgeons  attached  to  the 
troops  I  was  glad  to  find  an  old  friend  named 
Stiven,  with  whom  I  could  exercise  my  tongue 
at  last  after  my  enforced  silence  of  the  previous 
week. 

However,  I  was  already  able  to  speak  a  few 
words  of  Turkish,  and  the  paymaster  used  to  give 
me  lessons  regularly,  pointing  to  the  different 
articles  in  our  tent  and  repeating  the  Turkish 
word  for  each  until  I  had  grasped  it  thoroughly. 
I  conformed  to  Turkish  customs  of  course  in 


26  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

everything,  and  soon  accustomed  myself  to  my 
new  surroundings.  What  strikes  a  new  chum  in 
Turkey  very  much  at  first  is  the  absence  of 
chairs.  I  never  saw  a  chair  there ;  but  I  soon 
learned  to  sit  down  to  dinner  on  my  own  haunches 
on  the  ground  with  my  brother  officers.  A 
Turkish  dinner  was  a  curious  meal.  First  my 
servant  brought  me  a  basin  of  water,  soap,  and 
towel,  and  I  washed  my  hands,  preparatory  to 
attacking  the  soup  with  my  wooden  spoon. 
Mehemet  Ali  and  I  used  to  eat  out  of  the  same 
bowl,  dipping  our  wooden  spoons  in  alternately. 
The  piece  de  resistance  was  invariably  pilaf,  or 
boiled  rice,  with  little  bits  of  meat  cut  up  in  it,  and 
sometimes  scraps  of  chicken  or  turkey  when  we 
could  get  hold  of  any.  The  pilaf  was  eaten  with 
the  fingers ;  and  the  dexterity  with  which  an 
experienced  Turk  would  fossick  out  a  tender  bit 
of  the  liver  wing,  or  a  satisfying  "  drumstick," 
from  the  superincumbent  mass  of  rice  reminded 
one  strongly  of  a  digger  unearthing  nuggets  in  a 
patch  of  rich  alluvial. 

It  was  astonishing  at  Sofia  to  notice  the  humane 
way  in  which  the  Turks  treated  the  Bulgarians, 
who  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  hostile 
people,  and  who  never  lost  an  opportunity  of 
showing  their  hostility  whenever  they  could  do 
so  with  safety  to  themselves.  During  the  whole 
of  the  time  that  I  was  in  Sofia  I  never  saw  a 
Bulgarian  ill  treated  ;  and  I  think  it  only  right 


i877.]  A    LADY    PATIENT.  2j 

to  emphasize  this  point,  because,  either  from  want 
of  knowledge  or  from  that  tendency  to  take 
omne  ignotum  pro  malefico  which  is  so  common 
to  mankind,  the  other  nations  of  Europe  have 
contrived  to  affix  the  stigma  of  barbarous  cruelty 
to  the  Turks  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is  difficult 
to  remove  or  even  to  lessen  the  impression.  All 
I  can  say  is  that,  as  an  unprejudiced  observer 
with  ample  opportunities,  I  never  saw  any 
cruelties  inflicted  during  a  state  of  peace,  nor 
any  punishments  dealt  out  to  Bulgarians  except 
in  cases  where  they  were  fully  deserved.  The 
Turk  when  under  fire  does  not  fight  with  rose- 
water  any  more  than  the  soldier  of  reputedly 
more  civilized  nations  ;  but  if  needless  barbarities 
were  committed  by  both  Turks  and  Russians 
when  their  blood  was  up,  one  has  to  remember 
the  grim  remark  of  the  great  Frenchman  that 
one  cannot  have  an  omelet  without  breaking  a 
few  eggs. 

It  was  in  Sofia  that  I  was  called  in  to  attend 
my  first  lady  patient ;  and  the  case  is  worth  noting 
as  an  illustration  of  the  difference  between  Eastern 
and  Western  methods  of  diagnosis.  In  Turkey 
a  practitioner  does  not  get  much  to  go  on  in 
forming  an  opinion.  A  wealthy  old  Turk  in  the 
town  who  had  an  extensive  harem  wanted  advice 
for  one  of  his  wives,  and  I  was  asked  to  call  and 
see  her.  I  gladly  accepted  the  opportunity,  and 
followed  my  guides,  a  couple  of  eunuchs,  and  an 


28  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

interpreter  to  a  fine  house,  where  they  took  me 
upstairs  and  halted  outside  a  thick,  heavy  curtain 
reaching  from  the  ceiling  to  the  floor.  Inside 
was  the  harem,  an  institution  which  I  had  always 
had  a  scientific  curiosity  to  see,  and  at  last  I  felt 
that  my  ambition  in  this  direction  was  to  be 
realized.  A  few  low  spoken  words  in  Turkish 
were  whispered  at  the  edge  of  the  curtain  by  a 
tall  black-garbed  eunuch,  and  then  I  heard  the 
rustle  of  draperies  approaching  on  the  other  side. 
A  low  toned  colloquy  ensued  between  the  eunuch, 
who  seemed  to  be  threatening,  and  my  interesting 
patient,  whose  accents  had  in  them  a  touch  of 
plaintive  entreaty.  Presently  a  white  and  beauti- 
fully moulded  arm  was  shyly  insinuated  through 
the  space  between  the  wall  and  the  edge  of  the 
curtain,  while  the  eunuch  bade  me,  through  the 
mediumship  of  the  interpreter,  diagnose  the  com- 
plaint from  which  the  fair  one  suffered  and 
prescribe  a  remedy.  The  hand  was  small  and 
finely  formed,  and  above  the  wrist  was  a  heavy 
bangle  of  beaten  gold.  I  felt  the  pulse,  which 
was  fluttering  and  unsteady,  and  clasped  the  white 
and  tremulous  fingers,  feeling  that  with  such  slight 
data  to  go  upon  any  treatment  that  I  could  pre- 
scribe would  not  be  likely  to  enhance  my  reputa- 
tion. Accordingly  I  demanded  to  be  admitted, 
in  order  that  I  might  see  and  question  the  patient, 
whom  I  judged  to  be  a  Circassian  or  a  Georgian 
girl  certainly  not  more  than  one  and  twenty,  and 


I877-]  SOFIA    TO    PIROT.  2Q 

probably  pretty.  A  long  debate  ensued,  in  which 
the  eunuchs,  the  interpreter,  and  myself  took  part  ; 
but  all  my  arguments  beat  unheeded  against  the 
rocks  of  their  Oriental  stolidity,  and  the  logic  of 
the  whole  British  Medical  Society  would  not  have 
sufficed  to  persuade  the  principal  eunuch  to  let  me 
see  that  unknown  lady's  tongue.  With  that  thick 
curtain  between  us,  it  was  a  case  of  Pyramus  and 
Thisbe  and  the  wall ;  so  I  abandoned  my  quest 
after  the  unattainable,  and  lost  the  only  chance 
that  I — plausible  Giaour  though  I  was — ever 
obtained  of  seeing  the  inside  of  a  real  Turkish 
harem.  Probably  the  lady  was  eventually  treated 
by  a  hakem  bashi,  or  Turkish  physician  and 
surgeon,  many  of  whom  are  very  clever  in  their 
own  way,  or  by  ^.jarra  bashi,  a  sort  of  "  legally 
qualified  medical  practitioner,"  who  is  recognized 
as  a  person  entitled  to  prescribe,  but  whose  abilities 
do  not  go  much  further  than  drawing  teeth  or 
fixing  up  sore  feet. 

From  Sofia  our  regiment  pushed  on  to  Pirot, 
close  to  the  Servian  border,  where  we  were 
brigaded  with  two  other  regiments  of  infantry 
and  strengthened  by  a  battery  of  artillery,  our 
mission  being  to  defend  the  road  into  Servia  in 
case  of  a  flank  attack.  We  camped  in  the  hills  ; 
and  as  I  had  little  work  to  do,  I  spent  most  of  my 
time  shooting  hares  with  the  colonel's  double- 
barrelled  gun,  and  also  duck,  which  were  very 
plentiful.  In  the  evenings  I  learned  to  smoke 


30  FROM    MELBOURNE    TO    SOFIA. 

the  narghileh,  and  I  also  improved  my  scanty 
knowledge  of  Turkish  as  best  I  could  with  the 
aid  of  Mehemet  Ali. 

At  last  we  got  orders  to  leave,  and  at  daybreak 
we  struck  camp,  The  last  that  we  saw  of  this 
pleasant  resting-place  was  the  flame  of  our 
burning  camp-stables  of  brushwood,  to  which  we 
set  fire  before  we  started  on  our  new  march. 

After  a  stay  at  Ak  Palanka,  we  were  moved  on 
to  Nish,  the  headquarters  of  the  Turkish  army; 
and  here  I  met  several  English  surgeons,  who 
had  been  despatched  to  the  seat  of  war  by  the 
Red  Cross  Society  in  England.  Among  them 
was  Armand  Leslie,  who  was  afterwards  killed 
in  Egypt,  in  the  rout  and  massacre  of  Baker's 
poltroon  levies  while  marching  from  Trinkitat 
towards  Tokar  ;  and  a  couple  of  others,  Litton 

Forbes  and  Dr.  S ,  whom  I  got  to  know  very 

well.  At  this  time  Nish  formed  the  base  of  our 
army,  and  the  wounded  were  brought  back  to  us 
from  Alexinatz,  where  the  fighting  was  going  on. 
The  first  sight  of  those  poor  fellows,  gashed  with 
sabre  and  bayonet,  torn  with  shell,  and  riddled 
with  rifle-bullets,  made  me  realize  the  actuality  of 
the  conflict  in  which  I  was  there  to  assist. 

Life  in  camp  was  irksome  enough ;  but  I  found 
a  difficulty  in  getting  out  of  it,  for  while  one  of 
our  majors,  Edhim  Effendi,  was  a  jolly,  good- 
humoured  fellow,  who  was  not  above  a  glass  of 
liquor  when  he  could  get  it,  the  other,  Izzet 


1877-1  MY    FIRST    OPERATION.  3! 

Effendi,  was  a  dry,  fanatical  Turk,  who  spent  most 
of  his  time  at  his  prayers,  and  always  looked 
upon  me  as  an  infidel.  Izzet  Effendi  refused  to 
allow  me  to  go  into  the  town  ;  but  I  appealed  to 
the  colonel,  and,  having  secured  his  permission,  I 

took   up   my  quarters   in    Nish   with   S and 

Litton  Forbes.  Then  I  was  drafted  to  look  after 
the  general  hospital,  and  I  left  the  regiment 
altogether. 

There  were  about  twenty  of  us  in  all  on  the 
surgical  staf£  and  the  hospital  arrangements  were 
excellent.  It  was  here  that  I  performed  my  first 
big  operation,  the  patient  being  a  Turkish 
infantryman  who  was  brought  in  from  Alexinatz 
with  his  knee  shattered  by  a  shell.  He  refused  to 
take  chloroform,  and  I  took  his  leg  off  above  the 
knee  without  any  anaesthetic.  He  never  said  a 
word,  and  went  on  smoking  a  cigarette  all  the 
time.  When  the  captain  came  round  with  his 
notebook  afterwards  to  take  down  the  name,  age, 
and  regiment  of  each  wounded  man,  my  patient 
answered  all  the  questions  quietly  and  un- 
concernedly while  I  was  stitching  up  the  flap  of 
skin  over  the  stump.  It  was  a  marvellous  ex- 
hibition of  fortitude,  and  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  mettle  of  the  men  whom  I  was  soon  to  see 
charging  with  such  splendid  courage  upon  the 
bayonets  of  the  Russians. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    PRELIMINARIES    TO     THE     RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

Prince  Czetwertinski — A  Romantic  Career — His  First  Com- 
mission— A  Retrospect — The  History  of  a  Noble  Pole — From 
Monte  Carlo  to  Brisbane — A  Prince  as  a  Deck  Hand  on  a 
Schooner — A  Bush  Tutor — He  returns  to  Europe — The  Load 
of  Poverty — Lighter  to  Bear  in  Australia — A  Big  Win  at 
Flemington — School  Teaching  in  Batavia — Back  to  New 
South  Wales — Death  at  Wagga— The  Vale  of  Moravia— The 
Hot  Spring — Bulgarian  Blanchisseuses — Slavonian  Folk- 
songs— How  the  Turks  sing — A  Bulgarian  Samadh — Foley's 
End — Infuriated  Scavengers — A  Mysterious  Disturbance — 
Rough-and-tumble  Fighting — A  Turkish  Hercules — Captur- 
ing a  Prisoner — A  Solitary  Ride — A  Bulgarian  Farrier — 
Back  to  Sofia — Christmas  in  the  Snow — A  Maize  Cob  for  a 
Christmas  Dinner — Orkhanieh  to  Sofia — A  Doctor  frozen 
to  Death — Bitter  Experiences — Salutary  Effects  of  a  Good 
Dinner. 

AT  Nish  I  first  met  a  young  soldier  whose  re- 
markable personality  and  singularly  adventurous 
life  could  not  fail  to  attract  attention,  and  with 
whom  I  formed  a  close  personal  friendship,  which 
was  only  ended  by  his  death  barely  a  year  ago. 
Prince  Czetwertinski,  whom  I  first  saw  mounted 
on  a  magnificent  black  charger  in  the  main  street 
of  Nish,  belonged  to  one  of  the  oldest  families 
in  Russian  Poland,  and  was  himself  the  head 

32 


i877.]  PRINCE    CZETWERTINSKI.  33 

of  the  family.  His  mother  had  been  living  at 
Lemberg  in  Galicia,  and  the  young  prince  had 
been  educated  in  France,  and  afterwards  at  a 
military  school  in  Prague,  with  the  object  of 
entering  the  Austrian  army.  At  the  last  moment, 
however,  the  Russian  Government  intervened, 
deeming  it  unwise  to  allow  a  Polish  prince,  who, 
though  a  Russian  subject,  was  as  hostile  at  heart 
to  Russia  as  were  all  his  countrymen,  to  accept  an 
Austrian  commission.  The  official  world  of  St. 
Petersburg  set  its  face  against  Czetwertinski,  and 
refused  to  furnish  him  with  the  necessary  papers  ; 
so  that  when  the  Servian  war  broke  out  he 
gladly  seized  the  chance  of  taking  service  against 
the  Russians,  the  traditional  foes  of  his  Polish 
house,  proud  still,  although  its  glories  had  been 
sadly  tarnished. 

Young  Czetwertinski  was  well  received  at  the 
court  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  intimacy  of  Prince  Metternich  ;  but  there 
were  grave  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  military 
career  upon  which  he  had  set  his  heart.  At  last, 
however,  through  the  kind  offices  of  General 
Klapka,  the  well  known  Hungarian  general,  who 
was  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment, the  young  prince  secured  an  entrance  to 
military  life,  and  was  appointed,  not  to  a  com- 
mission, but  to  the  grade  of  private  in  a 
Turkish  cavalry  regiment,  in  which  capacity  he 
had  at  first  to  perform  the  most  menial  offices. 

3 


34         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

When  Alexinatz  was  taken  in  October,  1876, 
it  was  Czetwertinski  who  brought  the  news  to 
Nish ;  and  for  his  conduct  in  the  engagement 
he  received  a  captaincy,  and  also  the  decoration 
of  the  fifth  order  of  the  Medjidie.  He  was  a 
magnificent  rider,  and  his  victory  over  a  vicious 
black  stallion  that  no  one  in  the  regiment  could 
sit  was  a  good  passport  to  the  affections  of  the 
Turks,  who  dearly  love  fine  horsemanship.  I 
met  him  afterwards  at  Widdin,  and  got  to  know 
him  intimately.  At  that  time  he  was  captain 
of  a  guard  of  eighty  troopers  attached  to  the 
person  of  Osman  Pasha  ;  and  the  colonel  of  his 
regiment,  a  man  named  Mustapha  Bey,  was 
himself  a  Pole,  who  had  fled  to  Turkey  as  a 
boy,  entered  the  Turkish  service,  and  become  a 
Mohammedan.  Czetwertinski  fell  ill  at  Plevna 
of  dysentery,  and  passed  through  my  hands, 
afterwards  coming  to  live  with  me  in  the 
Bulgarian  house  where  I  was  quartered,  and 
bringing  his  servant  Faizi  with  him.  As  the 
young  cavalry  officer  was  attached  to  the  person 
of  Osman  Pasha,  I  was  kept  an  courant  with  all 
that  was  going  on ;  and  it  was  through  him 
that  I  was  enabled  chiefly  to  know  and  admire 
the  courage,  the  honour,  the  high  military  ability, 
and  the  pure  patriotism  of  the  great  chief  under 
whom  we  both  served. 

Czetwertinski  fought  with  signal  bravery  in  all 
the  engagements  that  took  place  at  Plevna,  and 


I877-]  A    ROMANTIC    CAREER.  35 

on  one  occasion  had  his  horse  killed  under  him 
at  Pelischat — the  famous  black  stallion  that  none 
but  he  could  ride. 

He  was  afterwards  selected  for  his  knowledge 
of  French  to  act  as  parlementaire,  and  visited 
the  Russian  headquarters  in  that  capacity  with 
Tewfik  Pasha.  Before  I  left  Plevna,  Czetwertinski 
was  sick  and  wounded ;  so  I  sent  him  down 
invalided  to  Constantinople  together  with  Victor 
Lauri,  a  German  artist,  who  had  chummed  in  with 
us  on  the  field.  Had  Czetwertinski  been  left 
behind  at  Plevna,  he  would  infallibly  have  been 
shot  by  the  Russians  for  a  deserter,  as  Skobeleff 
himself,  who  met  him  at  a  dinner  party  after  the 
war  was  over,  assured  him. 

I  said  good-bye  to  Prince  Czetwertinski,  or,  as 
he  used  to  call  himself,  Mehemet  Bey,  at  Con- 
stantinople, and  lost  sight  of  him,  as  I  thought,  for 
ever;  but  years  afterwards — it  was  in  1884 — I 
found  a  note  at  my  house  in  Melbourne  saying 
that  Mehemet  Bey  would  call  back  in  half  an 
hour.  I  waited  to  see  him,  and  then  he  told 
me  his  story. 

It  seemed  that  he  owned  some  villages  near 
Odessa  ;  but  when  they  were  confiscated  by  the 
Russian  Government  upon  the  termination  of  the 
war,  he  went  to  live  with  his  mother  at  Lemberg 
in  Galicia.  However,  after  the  exciting  scenes 
amongst  which  he  had  lived,  the  dreary  life  of  the 
provincial  Galician  capital  was  intolerable  to  him, 


36         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

especially  as  the  small  revenue  still  left  to  the 
family  was  miserably  inadequate  to  support  the 
position  of  a  prince.  Accordingly  Czetwertinski, 
who  was  always  an  inveterate  gambler,  scraped 
together  about  ,£3,000  and  made  for  Monte  Carlo, 
with  the  hope  of  breaking  the  bank  and  restoring 
his  fallen  fortunes.  In  three  days  at  the  tables 
he  had  lost  all  but  ^"25  ;  and  knowing  that  I  was 
somewhere  in  Australia,  he  went  over  to  London, 
and  took  a  steerage  passage  in  an  emigrant  vessel 
bound  for  Brisbane.  His  fellow  passengers  were 
such  a  rough  lot  that  he  would  not  associate  with 
them,  and  consequently  he  learned  not  a  word 
of  English  during  the  voyage,  eventually  landing 
at  Brisbane  with  one  solitary  shilling  in  his 
pocket.  He  walked  the  streets  of  Brisbane  for 
the  first  night,  nearly  starving,  and  towards 
morning  heard  a  man  speaking  a  few  words  of 
French  to  another.  Czetwertinski  went  up  to 
him,  and  found  that  the  man  was  really  a  French- 
man— he  turned  out  afterwards  to  be  an  escaped 
communard  from  New  Caledonia — and  that  he 
owned  a  small  ten-ton  cutter,  with  which  he  plied 
up  the  coast,  carrying  provisions  to  the  northern 
squatters  and  planters.  Czetwertinski  took  a 
billet  as  deck  hand  to  the  escaped  convict  trader, 
working  for  his  tucker  alone  ;  but  during  his  three 
months'  service  on  board  he  amassed  capital  in 
a  sense,  for  he  learned  English.  His  next  step 
was  from  the  deck  of  the  cutter  to  the  schoolroom 


i877.]  A    BUSH    TUTOR.  37 

of  a  station,  where  he  secured  an  engagement  as 
tutor  in  a  squatter's  family,  who  little  guessed  that 
the  quiet  Mr.  Jules  who  explained  the  irregular 
French  verbs  to  them  with  exemplary  patience 
was  Prince  Czetwertinski,  the  dashing  light 
cavalryman  who  made  his  mark  at  the  taking 
of  Alexinatz  a  few  years  before. 

Meanwhile  his  mother  in  distant  Lemberg  was 
searching  Europe  high  and  low  for  her  missing 
son,  and  at  last  she  confided  the  story  of  his 
disappearance  to  the  Jesuits,  by  whom  he  had 
been  brought  up  as  a  child.  Setting  the 
machinery  of  their  vast  religious  organization  to 
work,  the  Jesuit  fathers  in  Galicia  sent  inquiries 
flying  through  the  ramifications  of  their  order  in 
all  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  at  last  their  brethren 
in  Sydney  discovered  the  wanderer,  and  placed 
him  once  more  in  communication  with  his  family. 
They  also  offered  him  a  post  as  master  in  a 
Jesuit  college  near  Parramatta,  and  it  was  during 
a  holiday  from  his  duties  there  that  he  came 
down  to  Melbourne  to  see  me.  His  mother  longed 
for  him  to  go  home  again,  and  sent  him  out 
money,  imploring  him  to  return  to  Europe,  which 
he  did  soon  after  I  saw  him.  I  had  letters  from 
him  afterwards,  in  which  he  told  me  that  he  had 
resumed  his  title  of  prince,  and  was  living  in 
Rome  with  his  uncle,  who  was  a  cardinal.  He 
had  a  special  audience  with  his  Holiness  the 
Pope,  who  took  a  warm  interest  in  him. 


38         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH   WAR. 

With  revenues  depleted  by  continual  confisca- 
tions, Czetwertinski  found  himself  unable  for  long 
to  support  the  social  position  which  he  was  called 
upon  to  fill  in  Europe,  and  he  accordingly 
returned  to  Australia,  and  for  three  years  held 
a  post  as  master  at  St.  Xavier's  College,  near 
Melbourne.  I  heard  that  he  was  a  good  teacher, 
but  very  harsh  with  the  boys.  When  he  left  the 
school,  I  got  him  a  post  as  tutor  to  the  son  of  a 
friend  of  mine  at  a  good  salary ;  but  when  he  had 
been  there  a  week,  there  was  a  race  meeting  at 
Flemington,  and  he  got  a  holiday  to  come  down  to 
town.  Now  Czetwertinski,  though  a  magnificent 
rider,  knew  nothing  about  racing ;  but  he  tackled 
the  ring  with  the  same  gay  audacity  as  the  tables 
at  Monte  Carlo,  and  with  £7  in  his  pocket 
commenced  a  plunge  in  cash  betting.  His  luck 
was  in  this  time,  and  he  backed  winner  after 
winner,  leaving  off  at  the  end  of  the  day  ^300 
to  the  good.  Two  days  afterwards  I  heard  from 
him  that  he  had  thrown  up  his  billet,  and  was 
leaving  that  night  for  Sydney,  en  route  for 
Bagdad  or  Havana!  I  surmised  that  he  would 
find  his  way  back  to  Europe,  and  eventually 
marry  an  American  heiress  with  ,£20,000  a  year, 
with  whom  his  mother  had  arranged  a  mariage 
de  convenance  for  him,  with  a  promise  that 
,£500,000  should  be  settled  upon  him  on  the  day 
of  the  wedding.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
he  got  no  farther  than  Batavia,  where  he  opened 


i877.]  DEATH    OF    THE    PRINCE.  39 

a  school,  which  was  a  failure.  He  worked  his 
way  back  to  Cooktown,  and  thence  in  a  state 
of  starvation  to  Sydney.  On  one  occasion  a 
butcher's  wife,  who  wanted  to  engage  a  tutor, 
came  across  him  in  a  registry  office,  and  explained 
to  him  that  it  was  usual  for  people  in  her  country 
to  wear  collars.  The  poor  wandering  prince  had 
no  collar,  so  he  lost  the  billet.  However,  he 
eventually  made  his  way  down  to  Wagga,  where 
he  opened  a  school,  which  turned  out  very 
successfully.  He  was  doing  splendidly,  and 
meditating  another  trip  home,  when  he  caught 
a  chill,  and  died  in  a  week  of  pneumonia.  A 
Wagga  man  brought  me  down  poor  Czetwer- 
tinski's  final  good-bye,  saying  that  he  thought 
of  me  to  the  last.  So  died  as  noble,  brave,  and 
high-spirited  a  soldier  as  ever  drew  the  sword. 
Nish,  which  is  close  to  the  Servian  border,  is 
one  of  the  most  flourishing  towns  in  Bulgaria, 
and  it  was  at  that  time  fortified  by  several  large 
forts  and  earthworks.  Many  of  the  houses  were 
extremely  handsome,  and  the  villa  in  which  we 
were  quartered  was  a  beautiful  residence.  A 
fine  Bulgarian  church  and  several  Turkish 
mosques  lent  stateliness  and  dignity  to  the  little 
city  that  nestles  in  the  valley  of  the  river 
Moravia.  In  the  evening,  as  we  sat  over  our 
cigarettes  after  dinner,  there  was  a  quiet  restful- 
ness  in  the  beauty  of  the  landscape  that  had  a 
special  charm  ;  and  when  my  comrades  asked  me 


40         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

to  sing,  I  would  give  them  that  sweet  old  song, 
"Sweet  Vale  of  Avoca,  how  calm  could  I  rest," 
altering  it  to  local  circumstances  by  substituting 
"  Moravia"  for  "  Avoca." 

Routine  comes  to  mould  a  man's  daily  life  in 
the  Balkans  as  well  as  in  London  or  Paris,  and 
before  many  days  had  passed  we  had  settled  down 
to  very  regular  habits.  After  breakfast  at  eight 
o'clock,  a  walk  of  half  a  mile  took  us  to  the 
general  hospital,  where  we  had  a  couple  of  hundred 
wounded  men  under  treatment ;  and  after  going 
our  rounds,  and  conferring  with  the  head  of  the 
hospital  about  any  matters  demanding  immediate 
attention,  we  were  practically  free  by  one  o'clock 
for  the  rest  of  the  day.  One  day  a  week  was 
set  apart  for  operations  ;  but  on  the  other  days 
we  used  to  go  out  riding  in  the  hills  and  to  the 
surrounding  Bulgarian  villages,  with  an  occasional 
coursing  match — for  hares  were  very  plentiful — by 
way  of  keeping  our  sporting  proclivities  properly 
exercised.  A  very  favourite  trip  was  a  ride  of 
seven  miles  out  to  a  famous  hot  mineral  spring, 
where  the  water,  strongly  impregnated  with 
sulphur  and  chalybeates,  gushes  out  of  the  living 
rock  in  a  stream  over  a  foot  in  diameter  at  a 
temperature  of  120°  Fahr.,  and  falls  into  a  natural 
basin,  largely  resorted  to  by  the  residents  as  a 
bath.  Close  to  this  bath,  as  the  afternoon  wore  on, 
the  deep-bosomed,  dark-eyed  Bulgarian  women 
would  bring  the  clothing  of  their  households 


i877.]  BULGARIAN    BLANCHISSEUSES.  41 

to  wash,  as  Nausicaa  and  her  maidens  used  to  do 
long  ago  in  the  fabled  land  of  Phaeacia,  where 
Odysseus,  shipwrecked  on  his  homeward  voyage 
from  Ilium,  was  saved  from  the  sea.  The  Bul- 
garians, like  their  cousins-german  the  Servians  and 
Roumanians,  are  fond  of  bright  colours,  parti- 
cularly the  women.  Darwin  throws  the  cold  light 
of  science  on  the  important  subject  of  feminine 
attire,  when  he  points  out  that  the  gorgeous 
plumage  of  certain  birds  has  been  developed  by 
them  as  a  special  sex  attraction  to  secure  for  them 
the  notice  of  a  mate.  With  birds  and  animals, 
however,  it  is  almost  invariably  the  male  who 
decks  himself  out  in  the  most  brilliant  colouring, 
hoping  thereby  to  make  himself  the  cynosure  of 
all  the  eyes  of  the  females  ;  but  in  the  human 
species,  by  a  curious  piece  of  satire,  Nature  seems 
to  encourage  the  female  to  adopt  this  gentle  art. 
At  any  rate  the  Bulgarian  women  were  adepts  at 
it ;  and  in  spite  of  their  Finnish  type  of  features,, 
many  of  them  looked  positively  pretty  as  they 
stooped  over  the  pool  in  their  short,  white  kirtles 
of  homespun  frieze  and  loose-sleeved  scarlet 
bodices,  making  a  bright  note  of  colour  in  the 
picture.  And  as  they  dipped  their  garments  in 
the  steaming  washtub  of  Nature's  own  brewing, 
these  rustic  blanchisseuses  de  fin  would  sing  the 
plaintive  folk-songs  of  their  country  in  the  smooth 
Slavonian  tongue,  which  had  come  to  them  in  the 
old  migratory  days,  during  their  long  residence 


42         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

on  the  Volga,  before  the  Avars  swooped  down 
upon  them  and  drove  them  across  the  Danube 
to  the  country  under  the  shadow  of  the  Balkans, 
where  they  have  remained  ever  since.  In  the 
Bulgarian  folk-songs,  with  their  plaintive  semitones 
and  their  melodies  sliding  away  invariably  into 
the  mournful  minor,  one  seemed  to  hear  the 
echoes  of  the  history  of  the  people  who  have 
degenerated  from  the  warlike  race  that  crossed 
the  Danube  under  their  great  chief  Zabergan  in 
the  sixth  century  to  the  feeble  and  lethargic  tillers 
of  the  soil,  who  have  grown  up  under  their  long 
subjection  to  the  great  Byzantine  Empire  with  its 
seat  of  government  at  Constantinople,  and  after- 
wards to  the  despotic  Turkish  power  which 
superseded  it. 

As  the  evening  drew  in  we  would  race  our 
horses  back  across  country  to  Nish,  haunted  by 
the  recollections  of  those  plaintive  Bulgarian  airs 
and  of  the  low,  rich  voices  of  the  dark-eyed 
singers.  The  Turk,  though  an  excellent  fellow  in 
many  respects,  has  peculiar  notions  in  the  matter 
of  voice  production,  and  to  hear  a  group  of  them 
all  singing  in  unison  through  their  noses  as  they 
squatted  on  the  ground  round  a  camp-fire  was 
an  experience  to  which  one  had  to  get  accustomed 
before  one  could  thoroughly  enjoy  it.  It  was  a 
pleasant  variety  to  exchange  the  nasal  tenor 
squeak  of  the  Turkish  Tommy  Atkins  for  the  soft 
contralto  of  a  Bulgarian  blanchisseuse. 


I877-]  NISH.  43 

One  of  the  principal  sights  of  Nish  is  a  squarely 
built  brick  tower  covered  over  with  plaster,  in 
which  are  set  three  thousand  Servian  skulls. 
This  ghastly  trophy,  which  is  about  fifty  years 
old,  celebrates  a  long  forgotten  victory.  The 
heads  were  stuck  there  freshly  shorn  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  Servians,  and  the  whole  grim 
monument  reminds  one  of  those  sdmadhs,  or 
cenotaphs  of  heads,  of  which  Kipling  gives  such  a 
vivid  description  in  one  of  his  "  Departmental 
Ditties." 

Our  party  was  joined  at  Nish  by  a  son  of  the 
Duke  of  Cambridge,  Colonel  FitzGeorge,  and  a 
Captain  James,  who  had  come  over  with  him  from 
Widdin.  I  bought  a  capital  grey  pony  from 
James  for  ^"8,  and  I  always  fancy  that  he  imagined 
I  had  got  at  him  over  the  bargain.  However, 
caveat  emptor  is  an  admirable  maxim  in  horse- 
dealing  ;  and  the  law  presumably  imagines  the 
vendor  capable  of  looking  after  himself,  as  no 
maxim  has  been  framed  for  his  guidance.  At 
any  rate  the  grey  pony  stood  me  in  good  stead  ; 
and  in  our  nightly  race  home  from  the  mineral 
spring,  or  the  particular  Bulgarian  village  which 
we  happened  to  be  patronizing  with  a  visit,  I 
generally  finished  in  the  first  three.  It  was  a 
flat  race  of  course,  for  you  can  walk  from  one 
end  of  the  country  to  the  other  without  meeting 
a  fence  of  any  kind. 

At  night  after  dinner  the  entire  British  medical 


44         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

staff  at  Nish,  supported  by  FitzGeorge  and 
James,  were  in  the  habit  of  discussing  the  Eastern 
Question  in  all  its  bearings,  not  from  the  outside 
point  of  view  of  the  unprejudiced  observer,  but 
with  the  keenness  of  people  who  felt  that  they 
had  a  close  personal  interest  in  the  solution  of 
the  problem.  There  were  not  wanting  alarmists,, 
who  took  the  cheerful  view  that,  if  disaster  over- 
took the  Turkish  arms,  the  exasperated  Turks 
would  turn  their  swords  against  the  Giaours  in 
their  own  ranks,  and  we  should  all  get  our 
throats  cut  for  our  pains. 

One  of  the  speakers  who  invariably  ranged 
himself  on  the  side  of  the  minority  in  these 
discussions,  and  whose  chief  delight  it  was  to 
be  the  Ishmael  of  debate  with  his  hand  against 
every  man  and  every  man's  hand  against  him, 
was  an  extraordinary  man  named  Foley,  who 
quarrelled  violently  with  every  one  of  us  except, 
I  think,  myself.  Afterwards,  just  before  the 
Russian  war  broke  out,  the  poor  fellow  met  a 
tragic  end.  He  was  quartered  near  Sistova  in  a. 
Bulgarian  house  on  the  bank  of  the  Danube,  and 
it  was  found  one  morning  that  he  had  disappeared. 
His  fate  was  a  mystery  which  was  never  cleared 
up ;  and  whether  he  drowned  himself  in  the 
Danube,  or  was  knocked  on  the  head  by  some 
wandering  Circassians,  we  were  never  able  to 
find  out.  Another  of  my  comrades  at  Nish  was 
Ralph  Leslie,  a  Canadian,  who  has  had  a  fairly 


i877.]  INFURIATED    SCAVENGERS.  45 

adventurous  career,  and  was  afterwards  with 
Stanley  on  the  Congo.  He  was  a  nice  young 
fellow  ;  but  he  used  to  read  Gil  Bias  to  me  in 
French  when  I  was  in  bed  at  night  and  required 
all  my  energies  to  circumvent  the  strategy  of  the 
Bulgarian  insects. 

An  incident  occurred  one  afternoon  which 
came  near  terminating  seriously  for  some  of  us, 
and  it  forms  a  good  illustration  of  the  dangers 
which  the  travelling  Briton  incurs  as  often  as  not 

through  his  own  pig-headedness.     S and  I, 

with  three  or  four  more  of  the  medical  staff  were 
walking  down  the  main  street  in  plain  clothes 
after  lunch,  when  we  noticed  half  a  dozen 
Turkish  soldiers  engaged  in  cleaning  the  street. 
They  were  scooping  up  the  liquid  mud  in  great 
shovels,  and  throwing  it  into  a  cart  drawn  up 
near  the  footpath.  A  good  share  of  every 
shovelful  of  mud  came  down  on  the  footway, 

and  as  we   approached  S shouted   to  them 

in  English  to  "  knock  off"  whilst  we  went  past. 
They  either  did  not  or  would  not  understand, 
and  before  we  had  gone  three  steps  farther  my 
companion's  Bond  Street  tweed  suit  received  a 
liberal  baptism  of  black  mud  from  the  shovel 
wielded  by  a  dour  old  Turk,  the  ugliest  of  the 

party.      S lost   his  temper,  and   sent   in   a 

heavy  left-hander,  which  caught  the  old  fellow  on 
the  point  of  the  jaw,  and  landed  him  kicking  on 
his  back  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  The  whole 


46         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

gang  at  once  raised  a  yell,  and  rushed  us  with 
their  shovels,  while  we  had  to  rely  upon  our 
fists  alone  for  our  defence.  Matters  were 
beginning  to  look  very  ugly  indeed,  when  a 
Turkish  lieutenant  who  knew  us  rushed  up,  and 
drawing  his  sword  interposed  himself  between; 
ourselves  and  our  assailants,  who  retired  in 
disorder  under  a  vigorous  volley  of  Turkish 
maledictions.  It  was  a  close  thing  for  us  all  the 
same,  and  the  adventurous  career  which  I  had 
marked  out  before  me  came  perilously  near  to 
being  abruptly  terminated  by  an  inglorious  end 
at  the  hands  of  an  infuriated  scavenger. 

But  this  same  S ,  capable  man  as  he  was. 

at  his  profession  and  good-hearted  fellow  to  boot, 
had  an  unhappy  knack  of  getting  into  difficulties,, 
and  his  death  resulted  eventually  as  an  indirect 
consequence  of  a  mysterious  quarrel  which  he 
had  with  a  Turkish  major  under  circumstances 
which  I  recollect  with  great  distinctness.  While 
we  were  at  Nish,  one  of  the  British  surgeons 
attached  to  the  general  hospital,  Howard  Keen 
by  name,  was  quartered  in  a  fine  Bulgarian  house,, 
which  he  shared  with  a  Turkish  major,  whose 

name  it  is  not  necessary  to  mention.     S and 

I  went  up  to  spend  the  evening  with  them  ;  and 
as  it  was  a  bitterly  cold  night  with  snow  on  the 
ground  outside,  Keen  advised  me  to  stop  with 
him,  and  camp  in  his  half  of  the  house,  which  I 
did.  At  about  twelve  o'clock  I  wrapped  myself 


I877-]  A    MYSTERIOUS    DISTURBANCE.  47 

in  my  heavy  military  overcoat  lined  with  wolf- 
skin, and  lay  down  to  sleep  on  the  floor  in  front 
of  the  fire  in  Keen's  room,  while  Keen  also  went 

to  sleep  on  his   camp-bed.     We  left  S and 

the  Turkish  major  drinking  raki  together  in 
the  major's  room  at  the  other  side  of  the  house. 

As  the  fire  was  burning  low  I  woke  with  a 
start  to  find  the  Bulgarian  owner  of  the  house 
standing  over  me  in  a  state  of  violent  agitation, 
gesticulating  wildly  and  repeating  again  and  again 
some  words  of  the  meaning  of  which  I  had  not 
the  faintest  notion.  He  was  holding  in  his 

hand  a  revolver   which  belonged    to    S .     I 

guessed  at  once  that  something  was  wrong ;  and 

fearing  that  S had  got  the  worse  for  liquor 

and  insulted  the  Bulgarian's  wife,  I  woke  Keen, 
who  ran  out  in  his  shirt  and  trousers  to  the 
other  side  of  the  house.  I  followed  him  almost 
immediately,  and  he  yelled  out  to  me  to  come 
to  the  major's  quarters  at  once.  I  rushed  in, 
and  found  the  major  in  a  state  of  tremendous 
excitement,  chewing  his  big  black  moustache  and 
hurriedly  buckling  on  his  sword.  Guessing  that 

S had  got  into  trouble  again,  I  sang  out  to 

him  to  clear  out ;  but  as  I  did  so  the  door  opened, 
and  in  he  walked  as  white  as  a  sheet.  The 
major  drew  his  revolver,  and  fired  at  S point- 
blank,  but  the  bullet  missed  its  mark  ;  and  before 
he  could  pull  the  trigger  again,  Keen  and  I  had 
closed  with  him,  and  for  about  two  minutes  the 


48         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

inside  of  that  Bulgarian's  sitting-room  was  about 
the  hottest  corner  I  have  ever  been  in.  The 
Turk  was  a  big,  powerful  fellow,  and  he  was 
mad  with  raki  ;  while  Keen  and  I  were  both 
tough,  and  in  pretty  good  form.  Over  and  over 
on  the  floor  we  rolled,  the  Turk  trying  to  throttle 
us,  while  we  hung  to  him  like  a  couple  of  bull- 
terriers,  and  gradually  wore  him  out.  At  last 
we  had  him  fairly  beaten,  and,  grabbing  his 
revolver,  we  blew  out  the  light  and  fled,  taking 

S with    us,    and   locking    the   door   behind 

us.     S staggered  off  to  his  own  quarters  ;  but 

when  the  morning  came,  he  was  found  lying  in 
the  snow  outside  his  own  door,  and  the  exposure 
brought  on  an  attack  of  inflammation  of  the  lungs, 
from  which  he  eventually  died.  In  the  morning 
we  tried  in  vain  to  find  out  the  cause  of  the 

quarrel ;  but  neither  S nor  the  major  would 

tell  us.  I  think  the  Bulgarian  knew,  but  he  kept 
his  own  counsel. 

One  night  in  Nish  I  met  a  very  remarkable 
Turkish  officer  named  Ahmet  Bey,  who  was 
introduced  to  me  as  a  man  who  had  killed  seven 
Servians  with  his  own  sword  during  the  final 
attack  upon  Alexinatz.  I  never  in  my  life  saw 
a  man  with  such  a  magnificent  physique.  He 
was  very  handsome,  splendidly  proportioned,  and 
of  astounding  physical  strength.  A  few  days 
before  I  met  him  he  had  been  the  hero  of 
a  feat  about  which  all  the  troops  in  Nish  were 


i877.]  A    TURKISH    HERCULES.  49 

still  talking.  It  seemed  that  Abdul  Kerim 
Pasha,  the  commander-in-chief,  while  inspect- 
ing the  troops  one  morning,  casually  expressed 
a  wish  that  he  could  capture  a  Servian  prisoner 
from  the  Servian  lines.  Ahmet  Bey,  who  over- 
heard the  remark,  rode  up,  and,  saluting, 
asked  to  be  permitted  to  get  the  commander  a 
prisoner.  Abdul  Kerim  wonderingly  gave  the 
required  permission,  and  Ahmet  Bey  without 
another  word  wheeled  his  charger,  dashed  the 
spurs  into  his  flanks,  and  galloped  off  in  front  of 
the  astonished  detachment  straight  for  the  nearest 
Servian  outpost.  As  he  approached  the  Servian 
lines  half  a  dozen  rifles  cracked,  for  the  Servian 
vedettes  opened  fire  upon  him,  hoping  to  drop 
him  on  the  wing.  But  Ahmet  Bey  galloped  on 
unharmed,  having  deliberately  marked  down  one 
sentry  for  his  prey.  The  sentry  emptied  his 
rifle  at  the  audacious  horseman  in  vain,  and  too 
late  started  to  run.  Ahmet  Bey  swooped  down 
on  him  like  a  sparrow-hawk  upon  a  landrail,  and 
bending  down  grasped  the  man  by  the  collar  in 
an  iron  grip  and  flung  him  without  an  effort 
across  the  saddle  in  front  of  him.  Then  he 
galloped  back  again,  bending  over  his  horse's 
neck  as  the  bullets  whistled  over  his  head,  and 
delivered  his  bewildered  prisoner  to  the  Turkish 
commander  amid  the  delighted  shouts  of  the 
whole  detachment. 

The  hero  of  this  extraordinary  feat  was  after- 

4 


50         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

wards  attached  to  the  staff  of  Mehemet  All  Pasha, 
in  command  of  the  army  of  the  Lorn.  With  the 
same  army  corps  was  Baker  Pasha,  the  famous 
Colonel  Baker,  who  was  accounted  one  of  the 
finest  cavalry  leaders  in  Europe ;  and  Baker 
Pasha,  who  should  be  a  good  judge  of  soldierly 
qualities,  has  left  it  on  record  that  Ahmet  Bey 
was  the  beau-ideal  of  a  soldier.  Baker  Pasha 
has  given  it  as  his  written  opinion  that  he  never 
met  the  equal  of  this  Turkish  officer  in  instinctive 
military  knowledge.  He  seemed  to  be  able  to 
divine  the  movements  of  the  enemy  and  forestall 
every  change  of  position  or  modification  of 
strategy. 

The  frequent  defeats  of  the  Servians  seemed 
to  indicate  a  speedy  termination  of  hostilities  ;  and 
had  it  not  been  for  the  thousands  of  Russian 
volunteers  who  flocked  to  the  Servian  standard 
and  took  service  under  the  Russian  General 
Tchernaieff,  who  commanded  the  Servian  army, 
it  was  evident  that  the  resistance  of  Servia 
must  have  collapsed  much  earlier.  At  last,  when 
Servia  appealed  to  the  Powers  to  stop  the  war 
and  an  armistice  was  declared  at  the  instance  of 
Russia,  a  large  number  of  Turkish  troops  were 
sent  to  the  rear,  and  among  them  was  my 
regiment  the  Kyrchehir.  We  were  ordered  to 
retire  to  Sofia,  and  of  course  I  had  to  sever  my 
connection  with  the  general  hospital  and  rejoin 
my  regiment. 


I877-]  A    SOLITARY    RIDE.  51 

It  was  December.  The  sky  was  the  colour  of 
lead,  and  the  snow  lay  with  a  dead  weight  upon 
the  pine  trees.  The  regiment  started  early  in 
the  morning,  and  when  I  left  for  the  long,  solitary 
ride  to  Sofia  I  was  several  hours  behind  my 
troops.  As  I  cantered  my  grey  pony  over  the 
frozen  ground  a  mishap  befell  me  at  the  outset, 
for  the  gallant  little  animal  cast  a  shoe,  and  I  had 
to  stop  at  a  Bulgarian  village  to  get  him  shod. 
Throughout  the  Turkish  Empire  they  use  flat 
plates  which  cover  the  whole  of  the  foot  with  the 
exception  of  a  small  round  orifice  in  the  centre, 
instead  of  the  crescent-shaped  horseshoes  which 
have  come  down  to  more  civilized  countries  from 
the  Roman  times,  and  I  had  to  hunt  up  a  farrier 
to  do  the  work.  I  found  him  at  last,  a  surly,  black- 
bearded  fellow,  who  gave  free  vent  to  his  hatred 
of  the  Turkish  troops,  and  flatly  refused  to  assist 
me.  Out  came  my  revolver ;  and  as  I  tapped  the 
barrel,  significantly  pointing  first  to  the  shoeless 
hoof  and  then  to  the  farrier's  head,  he  came  to 
terms  and  consented.  But  when  I  remounted  the 
grey,  I  found  that  he  was  dead  lame.  The  rascally 
farrier,  I  discovered  afterwards,  had  driven  a 
long  nail  straight  into  the  frog  of  the  unfortunate 
pony's  foot,  and  then  nailed  the  plate  on  over  it. 
Before  I  reached  Sofia  a  Circassian  stole  my 
English  stirrup-irons  while  I  slept,  and  leading 
my  lame  pony  I  finished  the  journey  on  foot. 

However,  we  were  a  very  jolly  party  at  Sofia, 


52         PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO  TURKISH    WAR. 

where  a  fresh  lot  of  English  surgeons  chummed 
in  with  us,  and  we  all  resolved  to  celebrate 
Christmas  in  the  proper  English  way  by  a  splen- 
did dinner.  On  Christmas  Eve  a  special  sub- 
committee was  formed  to  arrange  the  details  of  a 
banquet  which  should  be  worthy  of  the  occasion. 
We  were  going  to  have  no  more  of  the  eternal 
pilaf,  with  its  accompanying  hard  biscuit  and 
gulps  of  hot  black  coffee,  but  a  real  hot  joint,  a 
turkey,  a  goose,  a  plum  pudding,  and  plenty  of 
wine.  I  went  to  sleep  that  night  with  my  soul 
filled  with  beautiful  dreams  of  Christmas,  and 
peace  on  earth,  goodwill  towards  Bulgarians,  and 
of  roast  turkey  and  celery  sauce.  In  the  morning 
I  woke,  and  learned  with  horror  that  the  regiment 
was  ordered  to  march  at  once  to  the  bleak, 
detestable  pass  of  Orkhanieh  in  the  Balkans,  and 
that  we  should  probably  get  no  dinner  at  all. 
They  went  away  without  me,  and  as  Christmas 
morning  wore  on  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I 
had  better  follow  them  or  else  I  might  get  lost. 
I  did  follow  them,  but  I  got  lost  all  the  same  ;  and 
after  riding  until  ten  o'clock  at  night  I  reached 
a  filthy  Bulgarian  village,  and  decided  to  camp 
there.  The  house  which  I  selected  as  the  most 
promising  was  about  as  clean  as  an  English 
piggery ;  but  I  found  a  kind  of  loft  where  maize 
was  stored  in  the  cob,  and  there  I  stopped  for  the 
night.  I  lay  on  the  cobs  of  maize  which  were  as 
hard  as  paving-stones,  and  made  my  Christmas 


i877-]  BACK    TO    SOFIA.  53 

dinner  off  one  of  them,  hardly  knowing  whether 
to  curse  or  laugh  at  the  irony  of  fate  and  the 
"  happy  Christmas  "  which  my  friends  in  England 
and  Australia  no  doubt  were  wishing  me.  Next 
day  I  overtook  the  regiment,  and  went  into 
quarters  with  it  for  five  weeks  at  Orkhanieh. 
I  had  plenty  to  do  there,  for  the  men  suffered 
greatly  from  dysentery ;  and  as  they  could  not 
all  be  accommodated  in  the  village,  they  had  to 
live  under  canvas,  a  mode  of  life  which  was  very 
severe  at  that  time  of  the  year.  After  a  few 
weeks  there  my  stock  of  medicines,  which  was 
never  very  large,  began  to  run  out,  and  I  got 
permission  from  the  colonel  to  ride  into  Sofia, 
a  distance  of  thirty  miles,  to  replenish  the 
regimental  medicine  chest. 

Of  all  my  campaigning  experiences  none  were 
more  awful  than  those  lonely  rides  from  Orkhanieh 
to  Sofia  and  back  again.  My  horse  went  lame 
soon  after  I  started,  the  cold  was  intense,  and 
in  half  an  hour  I  was  overtaken  by  a  snowstorm 
which  nearly  blinded  me.  All  day  my  poor 
horse  hobbled  along  on  three  legs,  while  I  was 
afraid  to  dismount,  knowing  that  if  I  once  left 
the  saddle  I  should  be  frozen  to  death  on  the 
ground.  When  I  arrived  in  Sofia  at  ten  o'clock 
that  night,  I  had  to  be  lifted  off  my  horse  and 
put  to  bed.  In  the  morning  my  good  horse  was 
found  dead  in  the  stable,  killed  by  that  fearful 
journey.  An  Italian  doctor,  who  drove  into  Sofia 


54        PRELIMINARIES    TO    RUSSO-TURKISH    WAR. 

on  the  same  day,  was  lifted  out  of  the  vehicle 
dead.  Perhaps  if  he  had  ridden  he  might  have 
been  saved. 

After  a  rest  of  two  days,  I  had  to  start  back 
for  Orkhanieh  with  my  replenished  medicine  chest. 
The  prospect  was  not  a  pleasant  one  ;  but  I  faced 
it  with  a  fresh  horse  and  renewed  confidence. 
Before  I  had  gone  half-way  I  missed  the  road, 
and  going  across  country  came  to  a  frozen  river, 
which  I  was  afraid  to  cross,  lest  the  ice  might 
give  way  and  let  me  and  my  horse  through  into 
deep  water.  Accordingly  I  rode  along  the  bank 
until  I  came  to  a  place  where  I  judged  from  the 
colour  of  the  ice  that  the  water  was  shallow,  and 
there  I  resolved  to  attempt  the  crossing.  When 
I  was  in  the  middle,  there  was  a  crack  like  a 
pistol  shot,  the  ice  broke,  and  we  fell  through 
to  the  river-bed,  my  horse  standing  up  to  his 
shoulder  in  the  icy  water,  which  reached  to  my 
knee.  I  was  off  his  back  in  a  moment,  and  the 
poor  brute,  after  a  couple  of  frightened  plunges, 
stood  still  shivering.  It  was  plain  that  the  ice 
would  not  bear  us,  even  if  I  could  get  myself 
and  the  horse  to  the  surface  again,  so  the  only 
course  open  was  to  cut  a  way  out.  I  took 
my  two  heavy  stirrup-irons,  fixed  them  on  one 
leather,  and,  using  this  improvised  implement 
as  a  hammer,  broke  away  the  ice  piecemeal,  and 
dragged  myself  and  my  horse  up  the  bank  on 
the  opposite  side.  At  last  I  reached  the  camp, 


1877.]  EFFECTS    OF    A    GOOD    DINNER.  55 

as  stiff  as  though  I  was  encased  in  plaster  of 
Paris,  and  with  my  clothes  frozen  hard  to  my 
body.  It  was  three  weeks  before  I  properly 
recovered  sensation  in  my  bridle-hand. 

The  regiment  was  ordered  to  Widdin  before 
I  had  recovered  from  that  last  ride,  and  on  the 
eve  of  our  departure  I  had  a  severe  attack  of 
dysentery,  which  weakened  me  terribly.  How- 
ever, they  lifted  me  on  to  my  horse,  and  at  last 
we  reached  the  town  of  Vratza,  one  of  the  most 
picturesque  towns  in  Bulgaria.  Here  I  found 
the  Turkish  regiment  to  which  my  friend  Stiven 
was  attached ;  and  to  my  great  joy  almost  the 
first  man  whom  I  met  was  Stiven,  who  was 
living  in  the  house  of  a  Polish  apothecary.  I 
was  very  weak  and  ill ;  but  I  accepted  Stiven's 
invitation  to  dine,  and  he  prescribed  a  nourishing 
diet  with  plenty  of  good  blood-making  wine. 
What  is  more,  he  saw  that  I  had  it ;  and  my 
performances  at  that  dinner,  which  was  the  first 
European  meal  I  had  eaten  since  leaving  Sofia, 
made  our  Turkish  servant  open  his  eyes.  I  am 
afraid  to  think  how  many  bottles  of  the  wine 
of  the  country  Stiven  and  I  got  through  between 
us  ;  but  I  know  that,  when  at  last  I  tumbled  off 
to  bed  in  the  mosque  where  the  regiment  was 
quartered,  I  slept  the  deep  sleep  of  those  who 
have  dined  both  wisely  and  too  well.  It  was 
a  good  prescription  of  Stiven's,  and  next  day  I 
was  completely  restored  in  health. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE    IMMINENCE    OF   WAR. 

Off  to  Widdin — Strong  Fortifications — Osman  Pasha  in  Com- 
mand—The Kalafatians  at  Work— Dr.  Black— A  Discredit- 
able Englishman — Shooting  on  Sight — An  Arrest  and  a 
Release — "Life  off  Black" — Egyptian  Troops  arrive — Zara 
Dilber  Eifendi — Osman  Pasha's  Ball — A  Memorable  Func- 
tion— I  get  Plenty  of  Partners — Military  Wall-flowers — The 
Ladies  of  Widdin— The  Dance  before  the  Fight— Three 
Beautiful  Roumanians— An  Angry  Grandfather— Lambro 
Redivivus — Preparing  for  the  Campaign — Some  Forcible 
Dentistry — Religion  of  the  Turks — The  Wrestlers — Visitors 
from  Kalafat — I  pay  a  Return  Call — Across  the  Danube  into 
Kalafat — Dinner  with  the  Roumanians — Pumping  the  Guile- 
less Stranger — A  Futile  Effort — Frank  Power — Nicholas 
Leader — Edmund  O'Donovan — Wild  Duck  Shooting. 

A  MARCH  of  four  days  brought  us  to  Widdin, 
the  journey  being  accomplished  by  easy  stages 
and  with  a  fair  degree  of  comfort.  Of  course 
it  must  be  remembered  that  there  was  no  such 
thing  as  a  commissariat  department  in  the 
Turkish  army.  The  zaptiehs,  or  mounted  police, 
in  each  district  received  notice  of  our  approach, 
and  requisitioned  the  necessary  supplies  from 
the  farmers,  who  received  acknowledgments  of 
Government  indebtedness  for  the  amount  due. 
We  always  sent  forward  a  few  arabas  with  an 

56 


1877- ]  WIDDIN.  57 

advance  party  and  a  number  of  cooks  ;  so  that 
when   the   regiment   reached   the    camping-place 
for   the   night   all   the   preparations    were  made, 
and   a  hot  meal  was  ready  for  the  men.      We 
usually    camped    in  a    Bulgarian  village  ;    and   if 
there   was    no   other    shelter    for    the    men,    we 
appropriated  the  mosque,  and  made  up  our  beds 
in   it.     I   have  slept  many  a  time  on  the  paved 
floor   of  a   Turkish    mosque,  in   the  very   arms 
of  Islam  as  it  were ;  and  I  must  candidly  admit 
that  my  slumbers  were  quite  as  refreshing  and 
my  dreams   as  sweet   as  they   have   since  been 
within  sound  of  the  cathedral  bells  of  Christendom. 
Widdin  is  a  town  of  considerable   commercial 
importance,  and  a  strongly  fortified  position   of 
great  military  significance,  being,  in  fact,  one  of 
the  keys  of  Bulgaria,  for  it  is  situated  on  a  wedge 
of  Bulgarian  territory,  having  both  the  Servian 
and     Roumanian     frontiers     almost    under     the 
muzzles  of  its  siege-guns.     When  we  were  there 
the  population  numbered  about  fourteen  thousand 
persons,    of  whom    perhaps   one-half  were    Bul- 
garians,   one-third     Turks,    and    the    remainder 
Levantines,  Greeks,    Italians,  Spanish  Jews,  and 
Tchiganes  or  Gypsies.    There  are  a  great  number 
of    Jews    everywhere    throughout    the    Turkish 
Empire,   and  they  are  very  well   treated  by  the 
Turks.      It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  almost 
all  the  bankers  and  financial  agents  in  the  country 
belong  to  this  race. 


5  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

There  are  practically  two  towns  in  Widdin — 
namely,  that  which  is  within  the  fortifications, 
and  that  which  is  outside.  The  fortified  portion 
faces  the  Danube,  which  forms  its  protection 
for  a  distance  of  about  one  mile ;  and  it  is  de- 
fended besides  by  a  high  castellated  wall  fully 
twenty  feet  in  height,  which  runs  right  round 
the  town.  Facing  the  Danube,  when  we  were 
there,  were  several  powerful  and  perfectly 
organized  batteries,  armed  with  at  least  fifty 
Krupp  siege-guns  of  the  most  modern  description. 
From  the  Danube  side  the  town  was  practically 
impregnable.  On  the  other  side,  beyond  the 
castellated  wall,  was  a  wide  and  deep  moat ;  and 
over  this  was  a  drawbridge,  which  was  pulled  up 
at  six  o'clock  every  night,  so  that  after  that  hour 
ingress  to  the  fortified  town  was  impossible 
until  the  morning.  Inside  the  fortress  were  the 
principal  public  buildings,  including  the  konak, 
or  townhall,  the  seat  of  administration  of  the 
Turkish  governor  in  charge  of  the  vilayet,  as 
well  as  the  barracks,  which  acc'ommodated  four 
thousand  men,  a  large  Government  mill  for  grind- 
ing corn,  and  the  great  granaries  in  which  a 
reserve  of  grain  was  stored  for  victualling  the 
town  in  the  event  of  a  siege. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  population  lived 
outside  the  fortress  in  the  different  suburbs ;  and 
beyond  these  again  was  the  outer  line  of  defence, 
a  huge  wall  of  earth  about  twenty  feet  high,  and 


1877.]  OSMAN    PASHA.  59 

studded  at  short  intervals  with  redoubts.  Outside 
this  wall  the  country  was  low-lying  and  swampy, 
capable  of  being  flooded  from  the  Danube,  and 
thus  affording  additional  protection  to  the  town. 
One  result,  however,  of  all  this  circumjacent  water 
was  that  Widdin  was  one  of  the  most  unhealthy 
towns  in  the  whole  of  Turkey.  The  climate  was 
excessively  damp,  and  we  were  never  free  from 
malarial  fever.  At  one  time  there  were  no  fewer 
than  four  hundred  men  in  the  hospitals  with  this 
fever. 

A  staple  article  of  export  from  Widdin  is 
caviare,  which  is  obtained  in  enormous  quantities 
from  the  roe  of  the  sturgeon,  and  sent  away 
packed  in  barrels  on  board  the  flat-bottomed 
boats  that  ply  up  the  river.  I  have  seen  a 
sturgeon  fully  twelve  feet  long  caught  in  the 
Danube.  Three  men  were  dragging  it  with  a 
rope  through  the  streets  of  Widdin.  The  town 
has  also  a  great  reputation  for  its  filigree  work  in 
silver  and  gold,  which  is  very  beautiful. 

In  February,  1877,  when  our  regiment  reached 
Widdin,  we  found  about  thirty  thousand  Turkish 
troops  in  the  place,  mostly  infantry,  though  there 
were  a  few  batteries  of  field  artillery  and  about  a 
thousand  cavalry.  The  Kyrchehir  Regiment  went 
into  quarters  in  the  barracks  inside  the  fortress ; 
but  of  course  there  was  not  sufficient  accommo- 
dation there  for  all  the  troops  in  the  town,  and 
a  military  encampment  was  formed  a  couple  of 


60  THE    IMMINENCE    OF   WAR. 

miles  out  of  the  town  for  the  bulk  of  the  army 
corps.  Osman  Pasha,  at  that  time  a  comparatively 
unknown  man,  was  then  commander-in-chief  of 
all  the  troops  in  Widdin,  and  Adil  Pasha  was 
the  commandant  in  charge  of  the  camp.  Osman 
Pasha  had  already  won  considerable  reputation  by 
his  brilliant  defeat  of  the  Servians  at  Zaitchar ; 
but  it  was  not  until  his  subsequent  successes 
against  the  Russian  arms  that  his  name  was 
flashed  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  Europe, 
and  that  congratulations  poured  in  upon  him  from 
all  quarters.  It  fell  to  my  lot  to  open  and  read 
many  of  the  letters  sent  to  him  from  England, 
in  which  the  writers,  a  large  proportion  of  whom 
were  ladies,  expressed  their  admiration  for  his 
gallantry  and  begged  the  favour  of  his  autograph. 
Osman  Pasha  lived  in  a  large  house  within  the 
fortress,  and  I  myself  was  billeted  in  the  same 
quarter,  where  I  lived  quite  in  the  Turkish  fashion, 
sitting  cross-legged  on  the  floor  and  eating  my 
food  with  my  fingers. 

At  this  time  hostilities  with  Servia  had  ceased, 
and  a  long  armistice  had  been  declared,  during 
which  the  Powers  were  occupied  in  dictating 
terms  to  Turkey,  which,  however,  she  declined 
to  accept,  her  determined  attitude  in  the  matter 
leading  ultimately  to  the  declaration  of  war 
against  her  by  Russia.  The  town  of  Kalafat 
in  Roumania  is  close  to  Widdin  ;  and  we  could 
see  the  Roumanian  troops  there  busily  engaged 


1877-1  "DR.    BLACK.  6 1 

in  fortifying  it  in  anticipation  of  hostilities  break- 
ing out,  and  of  an  attack  being  made  on  the  town 
by  the  forces  in  Widdin  at  any  moment.  The 
position,  therefore,  was  decidedly  interesting,  for 
we  could  actually  see  the  Roumanians,  who  were 
nominally  our  vassals,  building  up  their  redoubts 
against  us  as  fast  as  they  could.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  during  the  early  part  of  the 
Crimean  war  the  Turks  occupied  Kalafat,  Osman 
Pasha  being  the  commander  of  the  forces ;  and 
that  the  Russians  lost  some  twenty  thousand  men 
in  a  vain  attempt  to  take  it. 

The  time  of  waiting  in  Widdin  was  fairly  quiet, 
although  every  one  felt  that  war  was  in  the 
air,  and  that  the  interval  of  rest  was  only  the 
hush  that  precedes  the  hurricane.  I  had  plenty 
of  work  to  do,  for  dysentery  and  lung  troubles 
affected  the  troops  severely  as  well  as  malarial 
fever.  There  were  about  thirty  military  surgeons 
in  the  town  including  myself,  but  most  of  them 
were  Hungarians  or  Austrians ;  and  the  only 
other  British  subject  among  them  besides  myself 
was  a  man  whom  I  shall  call  Dr.  Black,  although 
that  was  not  his  name. 

Dr.  Black  was  by  no  means  a  credit  to  his 
country.  In  fact,  not  to  put  too  fine  a  point 
upon  it,  he  was  a  perfect  disgrace  ;  and  as  every 
fresh  scrape  that  he  got  into  reflected  more  or 
less  upon  me,  I  began  to  get  heartily  sick  of  him. 
Few  of  the  people  in  Widdin  had  ever  seen  an 


62  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

Englishman,  and  Dr.  Black's  manners  and  customs 
were  not  calculated  to  prejudice  them  favourably 
with  regard  to  the  nation  in  general  or  myself 
in  particular.  Fortunately  for  me  there  was 
one  other  Briton  in  the  town.  To  use  a  con- 
venient Irishism,  he  was  a  Scotsman,  and  he 
was  commonly  known  as  Jack  ;  in  fact,  I  never 
heard  his  surname.  Jack  was  a  high-class 
mechanical  engineer,  and  he  had  been  specially 
imported  from  Glasgow  to  take  charge  of  the 
Government  flour-mill  inside  the  fortress.  He 
lived  there  with  his  wife,  a  charming  little  Scots- 
woman, and  they  both  spoke  Turkish  like  natives. 
I  had  many  consultations  with  Jack  as  to  our 
common  bete  noir  Dr.  Black ;  but  we  had  to  suffer 
in  silence  for  a  while  until  the  whirligig  of  time 
brought  its  revenges,  and  Dr.  Black  was  at  last 
turned  out  of  Widdin. 

I  had  met  Dr.  Black  before  in  Sofia,  and  it 
was  with  intense  disgust  that  I  came  across  him 
again  in  Widdin.  He  was  a  middle-aged  man, 
who  might  possibly  have  been  of  some  good  in 
his  profession  when  he  was  younger ;  but  he  had 
spoiled  his  life  and  ruined  his  chances  with  drink. 
He  was  the  most  awful  drunkard  I  have  ever 
met.  In  fact,  he  was  never  sober,  and  in  his 
habits  he  was  perfectly  filthy.  He  used  to  wear 
a  long,  dirty  overcoat,  in  one  pocket  of  which  he 
invariably  carried  a  bottle  of  the  commonest 
and  vilest  rum,  while  in  the  other  he  carried 


i877.]  A    DISCREDITABLE    ENGLISHMAN.  63 

a  loaded  revolver,  with  which  he  would  blaze 
away  at  any  one  who  gave  him  the  slightest 
provocation.  On  one  occasion  I  saw  him  stagger 
into  a  Bulgarian  boot  shop  and  yell  out  in  English 
to  the  proprietor,  "  Give  me  a  pair  of  boots, 

you !  "     Of  course  the  Bulgarian  could  not 

understand,  so  Black  whipped  out  his  revolver 
and  blazed  a  few  cartridges  away  among  the  stock 
in  trade  before  the  trembling  cobbler  could 
pacify  him.  He  was  perpetually  firing  off  this 
weapon,  and  he  was  such  a  terror  to  the  unfor- 
tunate Bulgarians  in  whose  houses  he  was 
quartered,  that  he  was  never  allowed  to  stay  more 
than  a  week  at  a  time  in  one  place.  At  last  he 
became  such  a  nuisance  that  old  Hassib  Bey,  a 
most  courtly  old  Turkish  gentleman,  who  was 
the  head  of  the  hospital,  sent  for  me,  and  asked 
me  what  on  earth  they  were  to  do  with  this 
compatriot  of  mine.  I  suggested  that  he  should 
be  quartered  in  the  military  hospital,  where  he 
would  have  fewer  opportunities  of  being  a 
nuisance,  and  my  suggestion,  which  was  adopted, 
speedily  brought  matters  to  a  crisis. 

One  night,  when  Dr.  Black  had  retired  to  rest 
in  the  military  hospital,  drunk  as  usual,  a  number 
of  mischievous  jarra  bashis,  dispensers  and 
dressers,  began  to  tease  him  by  hammering  at  his 
door  and  making  offensive  remarks  to  him.  He 
yelled  out  to  them  in  English  that  if  they  did 
not  desist  he  would  bring  out  the  inevitable 


64  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

revolver ;  but  they  could  not  tear  themselves  away 
from  the  fascinating  sport  of  baiting  a  boozer  ; 
and  suddenly,  as  they  were  gathered  outside  in 
the  passage  whistling,  cat-calling,  and  shouting 
out  uncomplimentary  epithets,  the  door  opened, 
and  Dr.  Black  appeared  in  his  night-shirt,  revolver 
in  hand.  There  was  a  frightened  stampede 
down  the  passage,  and  as  they  fled  Black  emptied 
the  revolver  at  random  at  his  assailants.  A 
piercing  shriek  told  that  one  of  the  bullets  at 
any  rate  had  gone  home,  and  presently  the  whole 
hospital  was  in  an  uproar,  as  a  little  Italian  dresser 
staggered  into  the  house  surgeon's  room  declaring 
that  he  was  murdered.  A  hasty  examination, 
however,  showed  that  the  bullet  had  entered  a 
portion  of  the  anatomy  where  it  could  do  little 
harm,  namely,  the  fleshy  tissues  adjacent  to  the 
base  of  the  spine,  and  no  attempt  was  made  to 
extract  it.  Probably  that  little  Italian  dresser 
carries  the  bullet  about  in  his  back  still  as  a 
souvenir  of  campaigning  days  in  Widdin. 

When  Dr.  Black  put  his  head  out  of  his  door 
next  morning,  he  found  a  couple  of  soldiers 
stationed  there  waiting  to  arrest  him ;  so  he 
retreated  inside  the  room  again,  and  devised  a 
plan  of  escape.  The  window  of  the  room  looked 
out  over  a  courtyard  about  fourteen  feet  below ; 
and  as  there  was  a  thick  layer  of  snow  in  the 
yard,  Black  decided  to  escape  that  way.  He 
knotted  his  blanket  into  a  rope,  and  dropped  into 


i877.]  HOSPITAL    WORK.  65 

the  yard — also  into  the  arms  of  the  sentry 
stationed  below.  He  was  brought  before  old 
Hassib  Bey,  who  sent  for  me ;  and  I  sent  for  Jack 
the  mill  engineer  to  act  as  interpreter.  Finally 
Hassib  Bey  decided  that  it  would  be  no  good  to 
put  Black  in  gaol,  and  to  my  intense  delight  he 
resolved  to  send  him  away  out  of  Widdin  alto- 
gether. He  treated  my  discreditable  compatriot 
most  generously,  for  he  had  him  placed  on  board 
one  of  the  large  river  steamers  which  plied  once 
a  week  from  Widdin  up  as  far  as  Belgrade,  and 
sent  him  away  scot-free  after  his  escapade,  and 
with  £10  in  his  pocket  to  carry  him  out  of 
Turkish  territory  as  soon  as  possible.  I  thanked 
Hassib  Bey  for  his  forbearance,  and  to  my  great 
joy  I  never  saw  Dr.  Black  again. 

When  my  regiment  was  sent  out  of  the  fortress 
to  the  encampment,  I  was  detailed  for  hospital 
duty,  and  took  up  my  quarters  at  a  small  fifth-rate 
Bulgarian  hotel  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube. 
The  principal  diversion  was  to  go  on  board  the 
big  passenger  steamers,  and  hear  the  news  of  the 
outside  world  and  what  people  were  saying  of  us 
in  England.  I  met  a  charming  Frenchman  on 
board  one  of  them,  a  highly  cultured  and  agree- 
able military  man,  named  Captain  Bouchon,  who 
was  going  down  to  Rustchuk.  However,  I 
persuaded  him  to  stop  with  me  for  a  week,  and 
his  society  gave  me  the  greatest  pleasure. 

The  first  war   correspondent  whom   1    met   in 

5 


66  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

Widdin  was  a  man  named  Fitzgerald,  who  came 
out  as  the  representative  of  the  London  Standard. 
He  was  a  fine  fellow,  and  had  seen  service  in 
the  British  army.  It  was  the  month  of  April 
when  he  arrived,  among  the  first  of  the  petrels 
who  presaged  the  coming  storm  ;  and  about  the 
same  time  there  came  two  battalions  of  Egyptian 
troops  under  Prince  Hassan,  the  Khedive's 
second  son.  These  made  a  strong  reinforcement 
for  the  large  body  of  troops  already  in  Widdin. 
One  day  Fitzgerald  came  to  me,  and  said  that 
he  was  going  away  up  the  river  for  a  few  days. 
He  asked  me  to  look  after  his  correspondence, 
and  to  send  any  items  of  news  worth  telegraphing 
to  the  Standard.  He  took  the  boat,  and  went 
away  leaving  me  in  charge,  and  I  have  never 
seen  him  from  that  day  to  this.  I  took  up 
his  work,  and  sent  several  messages  during  the 
campaign  which  followed  to  the  Standard, 
spending  a  considerable  sum  of  money  out  of 
my  own  pocket  upon  telegraphing.  Afterwards, 
when  I  got  down  to  Constantinople  and  ex- 
plained matters  to  Mr.  Frank  Ives  Scudamore,  a 
well  known  personality  there,  he  refunded  me 
the  money. 

When  the  Egyptian  troops  arrived,  they 
naturally  occasioned  a  good  deal  of  stir,  and  they 
were  keenly  criticised  by  their  Turkish  allies. 
For  physique  and  fighting  qualities  there  could 
be  no  comparison  between  the  two  bodies  of  men, 


is/?.]  ZARA   DILBER    EFFENDI.  67 

the  Turks  easily  carrying  off  the  palm.  Still,  the 
Egyptians  were  by  no  means  to  be  despised. 
Their  officers  were  highly  trained  and  intelligent, 
and  the  equipment  of  the  troops  was  new  and 
good,  far  superior,  in  fact,  to  that  of  the  Turkish 
soldiers.  Moreover,  the  Egyptian  force  brought 
with  it  an  excellent  band  of  brass  and  strings, 
which  proved  a  perfect  god-send,  as  we  had  no 
band  among  all  the  Turkish  forces,  and  the 
bugles  were  not  particularly  agreeable  to  listen 
to.  The  Egyptians  afterwards  behaved  well  in 
action,  and  many  of  them  fought  at  the  defence 
of  Widdin  under  Izzet  Pasha,  who  successfully 
beat  off  the  repeated  assaults  of  the  Roumanians 
and  the  Servians,  and  preserved  the  town 
intact. 

Among  the  many  interesting  men  who  were 
gathered  together  in  Widdin  during  this  period  of 
waiting  and  watching  was  a  singularly  attractive 
and  talented  Armenian  named  Zara  Dilber 
Effendi,  who  was  a  resident  of  the  place  and  the 
chairman  of  the  local  chamber  of  commerce.  He 
had  been  brought  up  in  Germany,  and  spoke  every 
European  language  with  equal  fluency.  I  be- 
came very  intimate  with  him,  and  was  a  frequent 
visitor  at  his  house,  finding  him  thoroughly  well 
informed  and  an  intimate  friend  of  Osman  Pasha. 
In  fact,  Zara  Dilber  Effendi  and  Osman  Effendi, 
a  Turkish  doctor  who  had  been  educated  in  Paris, 
and  who  was  the  best  surgeon  that  I  came  in 


68  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

contact  with  during  the  whole  of  the  campaign, 
were  my  constant  companions  during  my  stay 
in  Widdin,  as  my  medical  confreres,  with  the 
exception  of  two  or  three,  had  few  tastes  and 
no  ideas  in  common  with  me.  Dr.  Kronberg 
and  Dr.  Busch,  however,  both  capital  fellows 
and  married  men,  were  sociable  enough  ;  and  I 
have  always  attributed  to  the  promptings  of 
Madame  Kronberg  and  Madame  Busch  a  brilliant 
social  idea  which  was  developed  by  Osman  Pasha 
immediately  after  the  declaration  of  peace  with 
Servia. 

Civil  and  military  society  in  the  town  was 
convulsed  one  day  by  the  announcement  that 
Osman  Pasha  intended  to  give  a  grand  ball 
to  celebrate  the  cessation  of  hostilities  and  in 
aid  of  the  funds  of  the  military  hospitals.  All 
the  arrangements  for  the  ball  were  left  in  the 
hands  of  Zara  Dilber  Effendi  on  the  strength 
of  that  gentleman's  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
highest  circles  of  European  society ;  and  as  it 
was  generally  understood  that  Osman  Pasha's 
invitations  would  be  issued  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  Zara  Dilber  EfTendi,  the  feminine  world 
of  Widdin  was  much  fluttered.  It  leaked  out 
pretty  early  that  no  one  below  the  rank  of  a  field 
officer  would  be  invited,  and  we  were  kept  on 
the  tiptoe  of  excitement  until  the  eventful  night 
arrived.  A  fine  Bulgarian  house  with  a  large 
room  was  taken  for  the  night,  and  for  a  whole 


1877.]  OSMAN  PASHA'S  BALL.  69 

week  beforehand  Zara  Dilber  Effendi  was  missing. 
People  said  that  he  made  several  mysterious  visits 
into  Roumanian  territory,  bringing  back  each 
time  a  small  army  of  Roumanian  servants  and 
many  suggestive  cases  and  packages.  It  was 
rumoured  that  there  were  to  be  chairs  at  the 
ball,  and  knives  and  forks.  People  whispered  of 
a  regular  set  supper,  with  European  dishes  and 
champagne.  But  Zara  Dilber  Effendi  kept  his 
own  counsel,  and  went  on  his  way,  wrapped 
in  impenetrable  Oriental  secrecy.  As  for  myself, 
having  received  my  invitation,  I  bought  a  brand 
new  uniform,  wondering  a  good  deal  where  the 
ladies  were  to  come  from,  and  how  the  Turks 
would  enjoy  a  ball  carried  out  according  to 
Western  ideas.  My  invitation  bore  Osman 
Pasha's  signature,  and  I  sent  this  interesting 
souvenir  out  to  my  father  in  Australia  after- 
wards. 

When  I  entered  the  ballroom  on  that  memor- 
able night,  I  was  fairly  staggered.  The  room 
had  been  beautifully  decorated  by  the  Turkish 
and  Egyptian  troops  with  festoons  of  flags  and 
picturesque  devices  composed  of  swords,  rifles, 
revolvers,  and  arms  of  every  kind.  Upon  a 
raised  dais,  at  the  end  of  the  room,  stood  Osman 
Pasha  in  full-dress  uniform,  supported  on  either 
side  by  Madames  Kronberg  and  Busch  beauti- 
fully dressed.  He  received  the  guests  with 
courtly  politeness,  shaking  hands  with  each  as 


7O  THE    IMMINENCE   OF   WAR. 

they  came  up  ;  and  as  the  long  line  of  brilliant 
uniforms  sparkling  with  decorations,  and  of  beauti- 
ful women  dressed  with  exquisite  taste,  filed  past 
in  front  of  him,  it  was  difficult  to  realize  that 
one  was  not  assisting  at  some  great  State  ball 
in  London  or  Paris,  but  at  a  function  in  a  small 
Bulgarian  frontier  town  lying  almost  under  the 
guns  of  an  avowedly  hostile  force. 

A  wide  divan  ran  round  the  room,  and  on  this 
the  Turkish  officers  sat  cross-legged,  observing 
the  proceedings  with  grave  interest.  The  Turk 
is  quite  used  to  paying  people  to  dance  for  his 
amusement,  but  he  would  never  dream  of  dancing 
himself.  I  watched  one  dignified  old  Turkish 
colonel  striving  hard  to  maintain  that  decorous 
impassivity  which  a  few  of  the  ballroom  ex- 
quisites of  the  Western  world  seem  to  have 
borrowed  from  the  East ;  but  every  now  and  then, 
as  some  audacious  young  Giaour  like  myself 
glided  past  clasping  a  vision  of  beauty  all  silk  and 
lace  and  pearls  and  flowers  in  his  arms,  I  saw  the 
old  Turk's  eyes  open  wider  and  wider  in  spite  of 
himself.  Zara  Dilber  Effendi  had  performed  his 
share  of  the  work  well,  for  he  had  collected  about 
sixty  of  the  most  cultured,  refined,  and  beautiful 
women  that  I  have  ever  seen  together  in  a  ball- 
room. There  were  a  few  Bulgarian  ladies  of 
the  highest  class ;  but  the  majority  were  Spanish 
Jewesses  from  seventeen  to  twenty  years  of  age, 
with  the  rich  colouring,  the  dark  hair,  and  liquid 


i877.]  A   MEMORABLE    ENTERTAINMENT.  71 

eyes  of  all  their  race,  or  stately  Roumanians, 
statuesque  in  type.  There  was  a  liberal  sprinkling 
of  Levantines,  Italians,  Greeks,  and  possibly  two 
or  three  Servians  ;  but  though  they  differed  in 
race,  they  were  alike  in  one  particular,  for  all 
were  beautiful  and  refined.  These  ladies,  I  must 
admit,  were  little  short  of  a  revelation  to  me,  for 
I  had  only  seen  a  few  thickly  veiled  Turkish 
women  in  the  town  hitherto ;  but  Zara  Dilber 
Effendi  was  evidently  a  person  of  some  note  in 
Widdin,  and  the  invitations  had  been  sent  out 
to  none  but  the  ladies  of  the  most  aristocratic 
families  in  the  country. 

I  was  the  only  Englishman  present  at  that 
remarkable  ball ;  and  I  suppose  it  is  not  often 
that  an  Englishman  finds  himself  assisting  at  an 
entertainment  of  such  half-barbaric  splendour, 
and  held  under  such  dramatic  circumstances. 
Every  man  in  the  room  knew  that  the  commence- 
ment of  a  fierce  campaign  was  only  a  question 
of  weeks,  perhaps  days  ;  and  we  snatched  the 
enjoyment  of  the  hour  as  gaily  as  did  the  guests 
at  the  Duchess  of  Richmond's  famous  ball  in 
Brussels  on  the  eve  of  Waterloo.  Indeed  the 
parallel  between  Osman  Pasha's  ball  and  the 
historic  ball  at  Brussels  which  Byron  has  cele- 
brated was  a  very  real  one.  In  both  cases  the 
dancers  were  dancing  on  the  edge  of  a  battle- 
field. In  both  cases  the  existence  of  an  empire 
hung  on  the  issue  of  the  coming  struggle.  In 


72  THE    IMMINENCE   OF    WAR. 

both  cases  many  of  the  brave  men  gathered  there 
amid  the  music  and  the  flowers  and  under  the 
flags  and  lamplight  were  soon  to  be  lying  out 
upon  the  blood-soaked  plain,  cold  and  deserted— 
the  debris  of  a  dreadful  festival.  We  had  no 
"  Brunswick's  fated  chieftain  "  there  that  evening ; 
but  the  courtly  old  Turkish  colonel  who  sat  up 
cross-legged  on  the  divan,  and  watched  me  so 
intensely  while  I  danced,  makes  in  my  eyes  a  far 
more  vivid  picture.  I  saw  him  afterwards,  again 
in  a  sitting  posture,  outside  a  redoubt  near 
Radishevo,  when  the  tide  of  battle  had  ebbed 
back,  only  to  flow  again  in  fiercer  volume.  His 
head  had  fallen  forward  on  his  knees,  and  when 
I  touched  him  I  found  that  he  was  dead — cut 
almost  in  two  by  a  Russian  shell. 

However,  the  shadow  of  the  impending  war 
only  served  to  throw  the  brightness  of  the  ball 
into  stronger  relief,  and  I  gave  myself  up  to  the 
business  of  pleasure  with  all  the  ardour  of  two 
and  twenty.  There  were  only  about  a  dozen  of 
us,  mostly  members  of  the  medical  staf£  who 
were  dancing  men,  and  we  were  consequently 
kept  busy.  I  generally  divided  one  waltz  into 
three  parts  ;  and  as  the  other  men  followed  my 
ead,  we  were  able  to  give  all  the  ladies  a  turn 
occasionally,  and  there  were  no  wall-flowers.  A 
big  ambulance  tent  had  been  pitched  in  the  garden 
to  serve  as  a  supper-room,  and  we  paid  for  the 
refreshments  as  we  had  them,  the  money  going 


1877.]  CHARMING    ROUMANIANS.  73 

to  the  hospital  fund.  I  used  to  take  my  partners 
out  after  every  dance,  and  the  champagne  corks 
were  flying  almost  as  thickly  as  the  bullets  later 
on.  I  recollect  that  I  spent  just  £9  on  suppers 
and  refreshments  during  the  evening.  A  man 
is  not  inclined  to  be  economical  when  he  knows 
that  before  long  he  may  have  no  mouth  to  put 
champagne  in  and  no  head  left  to  get  dizzy  with 
it.  Zara  Dilber  Effendi  had  got  in  a  splendid 
supper  from  Crajova  in  Roumania,  where  he  also 
obtained  the  favours  for  the  cotillion  which  was 
danced  in  perfect  style  under  the  direction  of 
the  experienced  Madame  Kronberg  and  Madame 
Busch. 

Among  my  partners  that  night  were  three  very 
charming  sisters,  who  had  been  born  in  Roumania, 
but  whose  father  was  a  Greek.  They  spoke 
German  very  well,  and  consequently  I  danced 
more  often  with  them  than  with  the  other  ladies, 
with  whom  I  found  greater  difficulty  in  conversing. 
The  sisters  were  good  enough  to  take  quite  an 
interest  in  me,  and  they  invited  me  to  call  at 
their  house  during  the  week,  following  up  their 
verbal  invitation  with  a  note  next  day.  At  the 
end  of  a  sheet  of  dainty  little  handwriting  on 
scented  note-paper  was  a  remarkable  postscript 
(I  find  that  ladies  generally  put  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  their  communications  into  the 
postscript)  setting  forth  that  their  grandfather 
had  a  rooted  aversion  to  all  Englishmen,  myself 


74  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

in  particular,  and  that  he  would  certainly  shoot 
me  if  he  found  me  calling  on  his  granddaughters. 
In  campaigning  times  one  is  not  discouraged 
by  trifles,  and  soon  after  the  ball  I  called  upon 
my  three  charming  partners,  who  entertained  me 
with  coffee  and  music  at  their  beautiful  home. 
Suddenly  a  step  was  heard  on  the  stairs,  and 
the  eldest  of  the  sisters  with  a  blanched  face 
whispered  that  it  was  their  grandfather,  and  bade 
me  fly  at  once.  I  dropped  from  the  window  into 
the  lane  below,  and  as  I  did  so  the  irascible 
old  Greek  opened  fire  on  me  with  a  blunderbuss. 
Fortunately  for  me  his  anger  had  affected  his 
aim,  and  I  escaped  unscathed.  A  few  years 
more  or  less  make  little  difference  in  national 
proclivities.  Old  Lambro,  the  Greek  pirate  who 
attacked  Don  Juan,  is  said  by  Byron  to  have 
been  "  the  mildest-mannered  man  that  ever 
scuttled  ship  or  cut  a  throat "  ;  and  the  grand- 
father of  my  fair  partners  seemed  to  have 
inherited  something  of  the  same  temperament 
with  a  certain  difference. 

In  April  of  the  year  1877  we  began  to  realize 
fully  that  war  was  imminent,  and  the  Turkish 
commanders  set  to  work  to  prepare  their  troops 
for  a  stern  and  fierce  fight.  Every  day  almost 
the  small,  flat-bottomed,  single-masted  boats  that 
plied  up  and  down  the  Danube  kept  arriving 
with  cargoes  of  flour  and  maize  for  victualling 
the  town,  and  also  with  reinforcements  of  fresh 


i877-]  PREPARING    FOR    THE    CAMPAIGN.  75 

troops,  who  were  packed  on  board  as  close  as 
eggs  in  a  basket.  Most  of  the  reinforcements 
were  quartered  in  the  large  camp,  which  was 
pitched  about  two  miles  and  a  half  out  of  Widdin 
towards  the  Servian  border ;  and  when  all  had 
arrived,  we  found  about  thirty-five  battalions  of 
infantry  there,  with  several  batteries  of  artillery 
and  squadrons  of  cavalry,  the  whole  making 
up  an  imposing  corps  darmte.  As  the  camp 
increased  in  proportions,  it  was  found  that  more 
surgeons  were  required,  and  I  received  orders 
to  give  up  my  hospital  work  in  the  fortress  and 
report  myself  for  duty  at  the  camp.  I  was 
appointed  one  of  the  ambulance  surgeons,  and 
rejoined  my  old  regiment,  the  Kyrchehir,  which 
had  been  sent  out  from  the  fortress.  The  camp 
was  situated  on  a  long,  green  slope  of  rising 
ground,  several  miles  in  length  ;  and  here  the 
long  lines  of  bell  tents  were  pitched,  among  them 
the  tent  of  my  old  comrade  the  paymaster,  with 
whom  I  once  more  foregathered. 

About  half  a  mile  from  the  camp  was  a  large 
marsh  or  swamp,  where  great  white  arum  lilies 
grew,  with  jonquils,  narcissus,  and  the  different 
kinds  of  iris,  in  magnificent  profusion,  as  well  as 
millions  of  the  tiny  white  snowflakes.  I  had  a 
trench  dug  outside  my  tent,  and  once  a  week  our 
two  servants,  the  paymaster's  and  my  own,  went 
down  to  the  swamp,  and  brought  back  barrowfuls 
of  flowers,  which  I  planted  in  the  trench.  Here 


76  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

too  the  orderlies  made  me  a  great  seat  of  turf, 
and  every  morning  from  six  o'clock  till  half-past 
nine  I  sat  there  among  the  flowers  to  receive  my 
patients,  who  used  to  come  up  from  the  different 
battalions  to  have  their  various  ailments  treated. 
Epsom  salts  formed  a  sovereign  remedy  for  most 
of  the  trifling  sicknesses,  and  my  method  of 
giving  the  physic  was  extremely  primitive.  As 
I  sat  on  my  throne  of  turf,  I  had  a  sackful  of 
Epsom  salts  beside  me,  together  with  a  bucket  of 
water  and  a  pannikin  ;  so  that  when  the  patient 
had  swallowed  a  handful  of  the  salts  I  presented 
him  with  a  pannikin  of  water,  and  he  washed  the 
nauseous  mouthful  down.  The  men  never  com- 
plained, and  accepted  these  simple  ministrations 
with  exemplary  sang-froid. 

As  a  rule  the  Turks  have  excellent  teeth  ;  but 
in  such  a  large  assemblage  of  men  there  were  of 
course  many  exceptions,  and  I  had  a  good  deal 
of  tooth-drawing  to  do.  Some  of  those  Mussul- 
man molars  were  dreadfully  obstinate,  and  resisted 
every  effort  of  the  Giaour  with  fanatical  deter- 
mination. One  man  with  a  huge  aching  grinder 
in  his  upper  jaw  came  to  me  three  mornings  in 
succession,  for  with  the  simple  appliances  at  my 
disposal  I  was  unable  to  extract  it  in  one  sitting. 
At  last  I  made  him  sit  down  on  the  ground  in 
front  of  me,  and,  grasping  the  forceps  in  my  right 
hand,  I  braced  my  feet  against  the  pit  of  his 
stomach,  and  put  forth  every  effort.  There  was 


J877-]  RELIGION    OF    THE    TURKS.  77 

a  crunching,  grinding  noise,  a  sound  of  breaking 
and  rending,  then  a  "plop"  as  when  a  recalcitrant 
cork  comes  out  of  a  bottle  of  pale  ale,  and  I  was 
lying  on  my  back  in  the  trench  among  the  arum 
lilies,  with  the  forceps  and  the  molar  in  my  hand 
at  last.  As  for  the  Turk,  he  spat  the  blood  out 
of  his  mouth,  piously  remarked  that  Allah  was 
very  good,  and  went  back  to  his  company. 

If  any  of  my  patients  were  seriously  ill,  or 
showed  symptoms  of  malarial  fever  or  dysentery, 
which  was  very  prevalent,  I  had  them  placed  in 
arabas,  and  sent  back  to  the  hospital  in  Widdin. 
Then,  when  my  work  of  inspection  was  over, 
which  was  usually  the  case  by  about  nine  o'clock, 
the  rest  of  the  day  was  my  own,  and  I  spent  it  in 
improving  my  knowledge  of  Turkish  and  consum- 
ing large  quantities  of  coffee  and  cigarettes  with 
my  brother  officers.  Every  day  the  camp  was  in 
a  state  of  great  activity,  with  never  ending  drills 
and  ceaseless  inspections  by  the  commandants, 
who  spared  no  pains  to  see  that  everything 
was  ready  before  the  expected  outbreak.  The 
discipline  throughout  the  camp  was  admirable, 
and  the  men  were  in  excellent  good  humour. 

Nearly  every  day  I  used  to  ride  into  Widdin 
to  hear  the  news,  and  return  to  camp  in  the 
evening,  generally  reaching  it  before  sunset. 
Only  life  in  a  Turkish  camp  can  enable  one  to 
realize  how  deeply  the  Turks  feel  their  religion, 
and  how  diligent  they  are  in  the  practice  of  their 


78  THE    IMMINENCE    OF   WAR. 

devotions.  No  dour  old  Covenanter  with  a  verse 
of  a  psalm  on  his  lips  ever  flung  himself  with 
more  dogged  courage  on  the  pikes  of  Graham  of 
Claverhouse,  than  did  those  Turks  charge  down 
upon  the  Russian  steel  a  few  months  later,  with 
the  cry  of  "  Allah "  upon  their  lips  and  the 
assurance  of  paradise  in  their  heroic  hearts. 
Perhaps  the  best  qualification  for  a  good  soldier 
is  to  be  a  fanatic — as  the  next  best  is  to  be  an 
infidel.  After  "  Praise-God- Barebones,"  the  most 
striking  figure  in  a  m£tie  is  Sergeant  Bothwell, 
who  died  "  believing  nothing,  hoping  nothing, 
fearing  nothing."  Every  evening  at  the  camp 
near  Widdin  the  men  were  formed  up  in  long, 
double  lines  just  before  sundown  ;  and  as  the  sun 
sank  below  the  horizon  the  cry  of  "  La  ilaha 
illallah  Mohammed  Rasul  Allah  "  started  at  one 
end  of  the  lines,  and  was  taken  up  by  man  after 
man,  dying  away  in  the  distance  diminuendo,  and 
travelling  back  again  crescendo,  until  it  reached 
the  starting-point  in  a  mighty  shout  of  religious 
fervour.  The  effect  resembled  nothing  so  much 
as  a  feu  de  joie  of  musketry,  delivered  with  the 
precision  and  clearness  attainable  only  by  the 
daily  practice  of  a  lifetime. 

When  the  men  were  dismissed  from  this  mighty 
church  parade,  they  would  scamper  off  like  so 
many  schoolboys,  and  indulge  in  all  kinds  of 
games  with  the  keen  joy  of  living,  and  the  un- 
blunted  faculties  of  sensation  which  are  seldom 


I877-]  VISITORS    FROM    KALAFAT.  79 

found  in  the  alcohol-drinkers  of  other  nations. 
Wrestling  was  a  favourite  pastime  with  the  men  ; 
and  it  was  no  uncommon  sight  to  see  five 
thousand  spectators  gathered  in  a  huge  ring,  in 
the  centre  of  which  picked  competitors,  stripped 
to  the  waist,  engaged  each  other  in  a  catch-as- 
catch-can  struggle.  Hassan  Labri  Pasha,  one 
of  the  principal  officers  in  the  camp,  was  an 
enthusiast  in  the  sport  of  wrestling,  and  used 
to  get  up  great  tournaments  in  which  the  men 
wrestled  each  other  for  prizes  of  tobacco  and 
other  inexpensive  little  luxuries. 

After  three  weeks  of  this  life  in  camp,  I  was 
ordered  back  to  Widdin  again,  and  took  up  my 
quarters  at  the  little  Bulgarian  hotel  on  the  bank 
of  the  Danube  where  I  had  been  before.  Things 
were  looking  very  serious  at  this  time  ;  and  though 
war  was  not  actually  declared  by  Russia  until 
April  24,  1877,  still  it  was  quite  certain  long 
before  this  date  that  Roumania  would  espouse 
the  Russian  cause ;  and  when  the  Russian  army 
which  had  been  quartered  on  the  Pruth  entered 
Roumanian  territory,  the  Government  of  the 
Porte  communicated  with  the  Roumanian  Govern- 
ment, intimating  that  they  construed  the  act  of 
Roumania  in  allowing  Russian  troops  to  cross 
her  frontier  as  an  act  of  hostility  towards  Turkey. 

About  a  week  before  the  declaration  of  war, 
two  Roumanian  officers  came  down  the  Danube 
from  Kalafat,  and  landed  at  my  hotel,  where  they 


8O  THE    IMMINENCE    OF   WAR. 

were    stopped   and    told   that   they   could    go    no 
farther.     One  of  them  was  a  Captain  Giorgione, 
whom  I  met  and  asked  to  dine  with  me  before 
he   went   back    to    Kalafat.       He    accepted   my 
invitation,  and  after  a  long  and  pleasant  conver- 
sation   about    the    general     situation     and     the 
prospects  of  war  he  gave  me  a  cordial  invitation 
to  go  across  the  river  to  Kalafat  and  pay  him  a 
visit  in  his  quarters.     As  hostilities  were  expected 
to  break  out  at  any  moment,  no  one  was  allowed 
to    cross   the    Danube   from    our  side  without  a 
special  permit  from  Osman  Pasha  ;  and  as  there 
was  no  probability  that  he  would  grant  me  the 
necessary  permission,   I  determined  to  make  the 
trip  on  my  own  account.     Possibly  this  was  an 
indiscretion  on  my  part ;  but  indiscretions  are  apt 
to  be  the  most  enjoyable  things  in  life,  and  I  was 
getting  tired  of  the  humdrum  routine  of  the  camp. 
I  had  my  English  passport  with  me,  which  en- 
sured my  safe  conduct  until  the  actual  declaration 
of  hostilities  ;  and  armed  with  this  precious  docu- 
ment, I  got  one  of  my  colleagues  to  act  as  locum 
tenens   during   my  temporary  absence   from    my 
practice,  and  hired  a  boat  and  a  crew  of  boatmen 
to  take  me  over  the  river,  which  at  this  point  is 
nearly  a  mile  wide,  and  flows  with  a  current  of 
extraordinary   velocity.     I    dressed    myself  in   a 
suit   of  mufti,   but   had  no  hat,   and  must  have 
presented   rather   a   piebald   appearance   with   a 
Turkish  fez  surmounting  a  suit  of  English  tweed. 


i877-]  A    VISIT    TO    KALAFAT.  8 1 

The  Roumanian  customs  officers  stared  at  me 
pretty  hard,  but  they  franked  me  through  on  my 
English  passport,  and  I  went  into  Kalafat,  leaving 
my  boatmen  on  the  Roumanian  side  of  the  river 
to  bring  me  back  the  same  night. 

I  strolled  into  a  cafe  in  Kalafat,  which  was 
then  a  town  of  about  three  thousand  people  ;  and 
the  experience  of  living  again  in  the  European 
fashion,  eating  at  a  table,  sitting  on  a  chair,  and 
seeing  men  in  ordinary  coats  and  trousers  and 
hard  black  hats,  struck  me  with  all  the  charm  of 
the  unexpected.  I  felt  the  sensation  of  a  Robin- 
son Crusoe  transplanted  suddenly  from  his  desert 
island  and  set  down  in  the  Hotel  Bristol. 

Almost  the  first  person  that  I  met  after  I  had 
finished  breakfast  was  my  friend  Captain  Giorgione, 
who  expressed  his  delight  at  seeing  me,  and  took 
me  off  at  once  to  introduce  me  to  the  general 
commanding  the  division,  after  which  I  went  to 
the  captain's  quarters  in  a  house  in  the  town. 
Most  of  the  ordinary  residents  of  Kalafat  had 
already  left  the  place,  fearing  that  the  bombard- 
ment of  the  town  by  the  Widdin  batteries  was 
imminent,  and  the  houses  were  filled  with 
Roumanian  officers  and  men.  I  lunched  with 
Captain  Giorgione  and  his  brother  officers,  many 
of  whom  spoke  German,  and  evinced  a  capacity 
for  hearing  news  which  was  hardly  disinterested. 
However,  they  were  excessively  polite,  and  in 
the  afternoon  we  strolled  on  the  promenade,  and 

6 


82  THE    IMMINENCE   OF    WAR. 

listened  to  the   strains   of  an;  excellent  military 
band. 

As  evening  drew  in  my  conscience  began  to 
trouble  me,  and  I  had  the  qualms  of  a  school- 
boy who  has  broken  bounds,  thinking  of  Osman 
Pasha  and  the  remarks  that  he  would  be  likely 
to  make  if  he  found  out  where  I  was.  However, 
my  newly  found  friends  would  not  hear  of  my 
leaving  them  that  day,  and  insisted  upon  my 
staying  to  dinner,  at  which  I  was  given  the  seat 
of  honour  next  to  the  general.  What  a  capital 
dinner  that  was!  Perhaps  I  enjoyed  it  all  the 
more  from  the  little  circumstance  that  Osman 
Pasha  might  have  me  shot  as  soon  as  I  got  back. 
The  Roumanian  band  played  English  airs  in  my 
honour,  and  the  officers  kept  my  glass  always 
filled  with  Pommery.  By  the  time  we  had 
reached  the  walnuts  I  found  myself  developing 
a  surprising  talent  for  mendacity,  and  the  more 
questions  that  my  polite  hosts  asked  me  the  more 
astonishing  grew  my  answering  taradiddles.  Of 
course  they  tried  to  pump  me  as  to  the  number 
and  disposition  of  the  Turkish  troops,  and  of 
course,  guileless  youth  that  I  was,  I  lied  whole- 
sale. Even  when  I  had  put  down  the  troops  in 
Widdin  at  a  hundred  thousand  men  and  expanded 
the  artillery  to  four  hundred  guns,  I  was  almost 
as  astonished  at  my  own  moderation  as  they 
were  at  the  magnitude  of  the  force  which  Turkey 
had  already  mobilized  in  Widdin.  One  of  the 


1877.]  FRANK    POWER.  83 

Roumanian  surgeons  who  was  at  that  dinner 
was  green  with  envy  when  he  discovered  that  I 
ranked  as  a  major  in  the  Turkish  army  while 
he  was  graded  as  a  lieutenant.  We  had  a  very 
merry  night  of  it,  and  I  hope  that  all  the  fibs 
I  told  will  not  be  remembered  against  me.  Then 
at  daybreak  I  made  my  way  to  the  river,  found 
my  boatmen,  and  was  back  by  six  o'clock  at  my 
hotel  with  no  one  a  bit  the  wiser  for  my  escapade. . 
I  met  some  interesting  men  at  Widdin  just 
before  the  war,  notably  a  splendid  young  fellow 
named  Frank  Power — who,  by  the  way,  was  a 
nephew  of  the  late  Sir  Peter  Lalor,  once  speaker 
of  the  Victorian  Legislative  Assembly,  and  long 
ago  a  picturesque  figure  in  the  fight  at  the 
Eureka  Stockade  near  Ballarat.  Frank  Power 
was  a  young  Irishman,  who  had  joined  the 
Austrian  military  service,  but  afterwards  was 
sent  up  to  Widdin  to  act  as  war  correspondent 
for  the  London  Daily  Telegraph.  He  lived  with 
me  ;  and  I  found  him  a  most  delightful  companion, 
full  of  romance,  and  generously  endowed  with 
the  love  of  adventure,  and  the  enthusiasm,  fire, 
and  wit  which  are  characteristic  of  the  best 
Irishmen.  He  was  a  splendid  rider  and  keen 
all-round  sportsman,  had  read  widely  if  not 
deeply,  and  with  the  mercurial  temperament  of 
the  adventurer  he  combined  more  than  a  trace  of 
the  artist  nature.  He  had  the  happiest  knack  of 
producing  charming  sketches  in  black-and-white 


84  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

or  water-colours  of  bits  of  picturesque  Bulgarian 
peasant  life,  groups  of  Turkish  soldiery,  or 
glimpses  of  the  iris-spangled  country  that  was 
soon  to  be  coloured  in  a  deeper  dye.  Poor 
Power  was  almost  heart-broken  when  they  sent 
up  Nicholas  Leader  from  Constantinople  to 
replace  him  as  the  correspondent  of  the  Daily 
Telegraph.  He  returned  to  Vienna,  and  thence 
to  Dublin,  where  he  resumed  his  old  journalistic 
life  for  a  time.  But  to  such  a  man  as  Power  a 
life  of  comparative  inactivity  was  impossible  ;  and 
when  the  troubles  broke  out  in  the  Soudan,  he 
soon  found  his  way  over  there,  and  eventually 
reached  Khartoum,  where  General  Gordon  ap- 
pointed him  British  consul.  Shortly  before  the 
fall  of  Khartoum,  Gordon  sent  him  down  the 
Nile  in  a  steamer  with  Colonel  Stewart  and  an 
Arab  escort  to  take  despatches  to  the  force 
advancing  to  the  relief  of  Khartoum.  However, 
before  the  steamer  had  got  far  the  smouldering 
fires  of  disaffection  among  the  natives  on  board 
broke  into  flame,  and  they  succeeded  in  running 
the  steamer  aground.  Lured  by  the  friendly 
demonstrations  of  the  Arabs  on  the  shore, 
Colonel  Stewart  and  Frank  Power  went  ashore 
with  their  escort  while  efforts  were  being  made 
to  lighten  the  steamer  and  float  her  off  again. 
The  full  details  of  what  followed  will  never  be 
known  with  certainty ;  but  news  of  a  massacre 
reached  the  British  column  eventually,  and  the 


i877.]  NICHOLAS    LEADER.  85 

bearers  of  the  despatches  were  among  the 
missing.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  Dervish 
methods  may  picture  for  themselves  the  sudden 
rush  of  bloodthirsty  fanatics,  the  desperate  hand- 
to-hand  combat,  and  the  deaths  of  Colonel 
Stewart  and  of  my  gallant  young  comrade  when 
they  fell  pierced  by  Arab  lances  on  the  scorched 
and  dreadful  desert  that  lies  along  the  banks  of 
the  Nile  from  Wady  Haifa  to  Khartoum. 

Nicholas  Leader,  who  was  sent  up  from  Con- 
stantinople to  take  Frank  Power's  place  in 
Widdin,  had  already  had  an  adventurous  career, 
and  had  smelt  powder  in  many  lands.  After 
seeing  service  with  the  British  troops  in  Canada, 
he  resigned  on  the  declaration  of  war  by  France 
upon  Germany  in  1870,  and  took  service  with 
the  French  arms.  He  was  attached  to  the  ill 
fated  army  of  Bourbaki,  and  was  interned  with 
other  prisoners  of  war  in  Switzerland.  After- 
wards, when  the  Carlist  insurrection  broke  out 
in  Spain,  he  joined  the  standard  of  Don  Carlos, 
and  took  part  in  the  fierce  guerilla  warfare 
which  the  Carlists  waged  against  the  Spanish 
Government.  The  war  correspondents  of  those 
fighting  days  in  Spain  were  as  dare-devil  a  crew 
as  ever  lived ;  and  Leader  described  to  me  with 
many  a  laugh  the  circumstances  under  which 
he  first  met  Edmund  O'Donovan,  another  Irish- 
man, as  gay  and  reckless  as  himself.  Leader 
was  in  command  of  a  small  fort  in  the  north 


86  THE    IMMINENCE    OF    WAR. 

of  Spain  during  the  height  of  the  insurrection, 
when  one  day  he  espied  a  strange  figure  clad 
in  a  long,  dilapidated  overcoat  approaching  the 
walls.  The  Spanish  sentries  yelled  to  the  sus- 
picious visitor  to  halt ;  and  as  he  took  no  notice 
of  them,  they  fired  on  him,  and  the  bullets  kicked 
up  the  dust  all  round  the  stranger.  The  only 
result,  however,  was  that  he  increased  his  pace, 
and  came  on  at  the  double  until  he  reached 
the  walls  off  the  fort  amid  a  rain  of  bullets. 
"  Cease  firing,  ye  blackguards  !  "  he  shouted  in  the 
simple  dialect  of  Southern  Cork.  "  I'm  Edmund 
O' Donovan,  and  how  the  blazes  can  I  get  in 
unless  you  open  the  gate  !  "  Leader  was  sum- 
moned to  interpret  the  strange  language  of  the 
foreigner,  and  he  let  him  in.  Thus  it  was  that 
Edmund  O'Donovan,  who  was  attached  to  the 
Government  troops,  walked  alone  into  the  enemy's 
fortress. 

Nicholas  Leader,  after  all  his  wanderings,  found 
a  grave  in  Turkish  soil  ;  for  after  a  few  weeks 
in  Widdin,  he  joined  the  army  of  Suleiman  Pasha 
at  the  Shipka  Pass,  and  died  there  of  fever. 

About  the  time  that  Leader  left  Widdin  the 
town  was  in  a  state  of  suppressed  excitement,  for 
every  one  knew  that  the  declaration  of  war  was 
imminent,  and  the  slightest  incident  was  sufficient 
to  cause  a  demonstration. 

Once  I  went  with  two  others  by  boat  to  a  small 
island  on  the  Danube,  where  there  were  numbers 


i877-]  WILD-DUCK    SHOOTING.  87 

of  wild  duck.  We  got  to  work  upon  them  in 
great  style,  and  soon  had  a  full  bag ;  but  when 
we  were  in  the  middle  of  the  fun,  half  a  squadron 
of  Roumanian  cavalry  came  galloping  down  to 
the  opposite  bank  to  see  what  the  firing  was 
about.  It  would  not  have  taken  much  at  that 
moment  to  provoke  a  conflict. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

Declaration  of  War  with  Russia — An  Ominous  Silence — The 
First  Shot — An  Interrupted  Luncheon — Under  Fire  at  last — 
Disappearance  of  the  Inhabitants — A  Move  Underground — 
Running  the  Gauntlet — Blowing  up  a  Gunboat— Our  Hospital 
shelled — Killing  the  Wounded — Operations  under  Fire — 
A  Terrible  Coincidence — How  a  Turkish  Mother  died — Some 
Marvellous  Escapes — Circassians  on  a  Raiding  Expedition 
— Cattle-lifting  on  a  Grand  Scale — A  Long  Bombardment — 
Insignificant  Losses — Osman  Pasha  in  the  Batteries — Re- 
warding a  Good  Shot — Circassian  Peccadilloes — Osman 
Pasha's  Plans— He  is  baffled  by  Red  Tape— A  Fatal  Delay- 
Good-bye  to  the  Kyrchehir — Marching  out  from  Widdin — A 
Picturesque  Bivouac — False  Alarms — A  Forced  March — 
How  the  Russian  Army  was  placed — Fall  of  Nicopolis — 
A  Race  to  the  Balkans — Sleeping  in  a  Tomb — Pushing  on  to 
Plevna — A  Terrible  Night — Lost  in  the  Bush — Many  Cases 
of  Sunstroke — Goose  for  Dinner — I  flesh  my  Maiden  Sword 
— A  Record  March — We  cross  the  Vid  at  last — Arrival  at 
Plenva. 

ALTHOUGH  we  knew  that  war  was  coming,  still 
the  actual  declaration  fell  with  the  suddenness 
of  a  bombshell.  On  April  25  I  had  done  my 
hospital  work,  and  was  walking  down  the  street, 
when  I  noticed  a  great  commotion,  and  saw 
groups  of  people  talking  excitedly  together  and 
orderlies  galloping  about  in  all  directions.  Pre- 
sently Tallat  Bey,  a  nephew  of  Osman  Pasha 


i877.J  AN    OMINOUS    SILENCE.  89 

and  one  of  the  headquarters  staf£  came  cantering 
down  the  street.  I  stopped  him  to  ask  what  all 
the  excitement  was  about,  and  he  told  me  that 
war  had  been  declared  by  Russia  on  the  previous 
day.  A  regular  hum  pervaded  Widdin  all  that 
day,  as  the  people  repeated  to  one  another  the 
ominous  news  that  Turkey  would  have  to  fight 
once  more  for  her  very  life.  We  had  been 
arranging  all  our  ambulance  work  beforehand ; 
and  old  Hassib  Bey  undertook,  in  compliance 
with  my  request,  that  I  should  be  attached  to  the 
first  troops  that  took  the  field. 

But  strangely  enough,  though  war  had  been 
declared,  and  though  we  could  see  the  Roumanian 
troops  busily  engaged  in  completing  the  fortifica- 
tion of  Kalafat,  several  days  went  by  without  a 
shot  being  fired  from  either  the  Widdin  or 
Kalafat  batteries,  and  we  were  left  looking  at 
each  other  in  grim  expectation  and  suspense. 

I  remember  well  the  first  time  that  I  ever 
heard  a  shot  fired  in  war.  I  was  sitting  in  my 
little  Bulgarian  hotel  on  the  bank  of  the  river 
with  Colonel  Stracey,  who  afterwards  commanded 
the  Scots  Guards.  He  had  been  inspecting 
the  Russian  army  at  Kischeneff,  and  between 
the  time  that  he  left  them  and  his  arrival  at 
Widdin  war  was  declared.  When  he  came  to 
the  hotel  where  I  was  staying,  I  was  delighted 
to  see  him,  since  he  was  the  first  Englishman, 
apart  from  the  war  correspondents,  the  notorious 


90  FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

Dr.  Black,  and  my  friend  Jack,  the  engineer  of 
the  Government  mill,  whom  I  had  met  in  the 
town.  We  were  having  lunch  together,  when  we 
heard  a  loud  "  boom  "  apparently  close  at  hand, 
followed  almost  immediately  by  the  distant  roar 
of  a  heavy  gun  ;  and  before  we  could  realize  what 
was  happening,  a  shell  struck  the  end  of  the 
hotel  and  crashed  through  two  rooms,  bringing 
bricks  and  plaster  down  in  all  directions  with 
clouds  of  dust.  The  bombardment  from  Kalafat 
had  begun  at  last,  provoked  by  a  shot  from  a 
Turkish  gunboat  on  the  river ;  and  within  a  few 
minutes  the  shells  were  shrieking  over  us,  the 
women  were  screaming,  and  valorous  old  Turks 
were  running  out  of  their  houses  armed  with 
rusty  flintlocks  or  anything  in  the  shape  of  a 
weapon  that  they  could  get  hold  of.  Now  and 
then  a  shell  came  crashing  into  the  hotel ;  and  as 
it  stood  in  an  isolated  position  on  the  bank  of  the 
river  affording  a  capital  target  for  the  enemy's 
fire,  it  soon  became  too  hot  a  corner  to  remain  in. 
So  it  was  shut  up,  and  Stracey  and  I,  both  of  whom 
were  then  under  fire  for  the  first  time,  moved 
farther  back  into  the  town,  where  I  had  secured 
a  house  for  myself  on  the  previous  day  in 
anticipation  of  some  such  trouble.  The  firing 
went  on  for  about  three  hours,  and  all  the  women 
in  the  town  were  of  course  terribly  frightened, 
and  were  rushing  about  shrieking  and  weeping, 
not  knowing  what  to  do.  It  was  curious  to  see 


i877.]  UNDER    FIRE    AT    LAST.  9 1 

the  behaviour  of  the  different  nationalities  in  the 
hour  of  danger.  Most  of  the  Spanish  women 
gathered  together  under  the  walls  of  the  fortress, 
where  they  erected  a  roof  of  mats  with  the 
fortress  wall  as  a  support.  Here  they  were 
perfectly  safe  from  the  Roumanian  shells,  which 
either  struck  the  wall  on  the  outside  or  else 
passed  over  it,  dropping  much  farther  in  the 
natural  course  of  their  trajectory.  The  Turkish 
women  huddled  together  in  two  large  alcoves  in 
the  wall  of  the  archway  leading  into  the  fortress, 
refuges  which  were  almost  like  dungeons  hewn 
out  of  the  solid  masonry,  and  which  were 
absolutely  safe  from  projectiles.  When  the  firing 
was  over  I  went  to  the  hospital,  and  found  that 
four  or  five  people  had  been  wounded.  A  Spanish 
boy  had  lost  his  arm,  and  a  Turkish  woman  had 
been  killed  by  a  shell  bursting  in  her  room.  One 
unpleasant  result  of  the  bombardment  was  that 
Stracey  and  I  had  nothing  to  eat  all  night,  as  all 
the  butchers  and  bakers  in  Widdin  were  down  in 
their  cellars,  and  no  amount  of  money  would 
induce  them  to  come  out.  They  put  their  heads 
above-ground  next  day,  cautiously  emerging  like 
rabbits  from  their  burrows,  but  always  went  back 
at  night. 

That  evening  when  I  was  dozing  off  to  sleep 
there  was  a  terrific  crash  of  artillery,  the  vibration 
of  the  firing  breaking  every  window  of  the  house  ; 
and  as  it  was  quickly  replied  to  by  the  batteries 


92  FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

of  Kalafat,  I  jumped  into  my  clothes,  and  rushed 
out  to  find  the  cause  of  this  sudden  eruption  of 
hostilities.  It  was  plain  enough.  A  Roumanian 
vessel  loaded  with  troops  was  running  the 
gauntlet  down  the  river  in  front  of  Widdin  ;  and 
as  she  steamed  past  in  the  night  on  the  far  side 
of  the  long  island  opposite  the  town,  the  smoke 
of  her  funnel  betrayed  her,  and  the  earth-shaking 
roar  of  the  forty  heavy  siege-guns  in  the  Widdin 
batteries  told  that  the  attempt  was  discovered. 
Only  the  vessel's  smoke-stack  could  be  seen  over 
the  island  by  the  sparks  flying  upwards  in  the 
dark,  and  through  this  phantasmal  target  the 
big  shells  hissed  and  shrieked  in  vain,  bursting 
in  mid-air  and  burying  the  fragments  in  Rou- 
manian soil  across  the  river.  The  batteries  at 
Kalafat  took  up  the  tale  at  once,  and  for  a  few 
hours  we  had  a  lively  time  of  it.  It  was  the 
adverse  fortune  of  war  for  the  Roumanian  vessel ; 
for  after  she  had  dodged  the  storm  of  shells  from 
our  siege-guns  and  got  safely  out  of  range,  she 
was  blown  up  by  a  Turkish  monitor  lower  down 
the  river,  and  every  soul  on  board  perished. 

On  June  i  I  was  detailed  for  duty  in  the 
main  hospital,  which  was  just  then  receiving  an 
unusual  amount  of  attention  from  the  Kalafat 
batteries.  Unfortunately  for  the  wounded,  this 
hospital  was  situated  a  few  hundred  yards  from 
one  of  our  batteries  ;  and  while  the  Roumanians 
were  finding  the  range  for  this  battery,  a  good 


i877-]  OUR    HOSPITAL    SHELLED.  93 

number  of  their  shells,  which  had  too  much 
elevation,  dropped  on  the  hospital  and  on  the 
surrounding  houses.  I  was  sitting  in  my  room 
in  the  hospital  one  day  when  a  shell  burst  with 
an  awful  crash  in  the  middle  of  a  ward  full  of 
sick  and  wounded  men.  It  struck  the  lattice 
of  a  window,  and  at  once  exploded.  When  I 
rushed  in,  the  ward  was  full  of  dust  and  smoke, 
out  of  which  came  terrible  screams  and  cries. 
Four  of  the  patients  had  been  killed  on  the  spot, 
and  seven  others  had  been  wounded.  One  man, 
who  was  delirious  from  malarial  fever,  had  his 
side  ripped  open  from  hip  to  shoulder  by  a  frag- 
ment of  the  shell.  He  was  still  alive,  but  wildly 
delirious.  Another  had  his  arm  fearfully  mangled, 
and  I  took  it  off  at  the  shoulder  there  and  then. 
The  only  nurses  that  I  had  were  the  men  supplied 
by  the  different  regiments  for  hospital  duty. 
One  of  them,  a  stalwart  private  from  my  old 
regiment  the  Kyrchehir,  was  among  the  four 
who  were  killed  by  the  shell.  A  great  outcry 
was  made  outside  Turkey  about  the  Roumanians 
violating  the  Convention  of  Geneva  and  the 
principles  of  humanity  by  firing  on  the  hospital ; 
but  my  own  opinion  is  that  they  could  not  avoid 
hitting  it  in  the  position  which  it  occupied,  and 
that  it  should  never  have  been  placed  there  at  all. 
One  strange  and  grim  incident  happened 
during  the  bombardment,  and,  to  the  Turkish 
mind  especially,  seemed  to  illustrate  the  doctrine 


94  FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

of  fatalism  with  appalling  vividness.  In  the 
height  of  the  firing,  when  the  shells  from  the 
heavy  siege-guns  at  Kalafat  were  dropping 
incessantly  within  the  fortress,  one  of  them,  as 
it  exploded,  tore  a  great  hole  in  the  ground 
large  enough  to  contain  a  horse.  A  Turkish 
woman,  who  was  cowering  with  three  children 
under  the  shadow  of  the  wall,  determined  to 
take  refuge  in  the  newly  made  hole,  reckoning 
by  the  doctrine  of  chances  that  it  was  about 
the  least  likely  spot  to  be  again  disturbed. 
Hardly  had  she  crept  in  and  drawn  the  three 
children  after  her  than  another  shell,  leaving 
the  cannon's  mouth  at  Kalafat  nearly  two  miles 
away,  dropped  into  the  very  same  hole  and  blew 
the  four  hapless  creatures  who  were  hiding  there 
to  atoms.  On  another  occasion  I  saw  a  shell 
strike  the  angle  of  a  house,  tear  two  walls  down, 
and  reduce  one  half  of  a  room  to  ruins.  In  the 
other  half  of  the  room  were  a  Turkish  woman 
and  two  children,  all  of  whom  escaped  unhurt. 

As  soon  as  the  war  had  fairly  started  and  the 
troops  had  smelt  blood,  the  Circassians  began  to 
display  the  wild  courage  and  the  love  of  pillage 
inbred  in  them  in  the  mountain  fastnesses,  which 
they  only  left  to  become  the  troublesome  members 
of  the  Turkish  ^Empire  that  they  generally  turned 
out  to  be.  Of  their  bravery  and  resourcefulness 
there  could  be  no  question  ;  but  their  rapacity 
was  inextinguishable,  and  no  one  who  did  not 


I877-]  A    RAID    OF    THE    CIRCASSIANS.  95 

wear  a  uniform  was  safe  from  them.  Soon  after 
the  commencement  of  the  bombardment,  a  party 
of  about  fifty  Circassians  organized  a  private 
raid  on  their  own  account  into  Roumanian 
territory,  and  carried  it  out  with  extraordinary 
dash  and  brilliancy.  One  dark  night,  when  the 
flash  of  the  guns  at  Kalafat  and  the  answering 
stream  of  fire  from  the  Widdin  batteries  illu- 
minated the  blackness  with  fitful  gleams  of  light, 
the  Circassians  crossed  the  Danube  in  boats, 
towing  their  horses  behind  them  by  ropes.  They 
had  made  ingenious  lifebelts  for  the  horses  out 
of  the  inflated  pigskins  which  were  used  as  wine 
casks  in  the  country,  and  thus  equipped  each 
hardy  little  animal  swam  easily  behind  the  boats 
and  crossed  the  river  without  mishap.  When 
the  Circassians  reached  the  opposite  bank,  they 
removed  these  novel  lifebelts,  mounted  their 
horses,  shot  a  couple  of  Roumanian  sentries,  and 
galloped  off  in  the  darkness  with  the  instinctive 
knowledge  of  the  whereabouts  of  plunder  that 
is  born  in  the  blood  of  hereditary  cattle-stealers. 
Before  long  they  had  rounded  up  a  goodly  mob 
of  the  small  black  cattle  of  Roumania,  and  had 
them  headed  for  the  Danube.  The  Circassian  is 
an  expert  stockman,  and  for  the  party  to  bring 
four  hundred  cattle  down  to  the  river  was  an 
easy  task  while  the  Kalafat  gunners,  blissfully 
unconscious  of  the  coup  that  was  being  executed 
under  their  noses,  kept  pounding  away  at  the 


96  FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

Widdin  fortifications.  To  bring  a  mob  of  cattle 
across  a  river  nearly  a  mile  wide  and  with  a 
current  of  great  velocity  would  need  some  skill 
in  daylight;  but  to  bring  them  across  in  pitch 
darkness,  and  under  the  guns  of  the  enemy,  was 
a  feat  which  few  but  Circassians  could  accomplish. 
Those  black  cattle,  however,  that  are  found  along 
the  banks  of  the  Danube  are  almost  amphibious, 
and  they  take  to  the  water  like  dogs.  As  soon 
as  the  front  files  had  taken  to  the  water  the 
others  followed  them  readily,  and  the  Circassians 
followed  in  the  boats,  rounding  up  the  stragglers 
with  their  whips,  and  towing  their  horses,  re- 
equipped  with  the  pigskin  lifebelts,  behind  them. 
So  in  darkness  and  rain,  across  the  hurrying 
flood  of  the  Danube  they  brought  four  hundred 
head  of  Roumanian  cattle,  and  left  behind  them 
two  dead  sentries  lying  with  their  faces  turned 
towards  the  sky. 

All  that  May  the  bombardment  of  Widdin  was 
continued  at  irregular  intervals ;  but  there  were 
occasionally  several  successive  days  on  which 
there  was  no  firing,  and  at  these  times  life  in 
Widdin  was  inconceivably  dull.  While  these 
voluntary  armistices  were  in  progress,  we  could 
see  the  Roumanians  hard  at  work  constructing 
new  batteries,  which  made  the  Turkish  troops 
in  Widdin  chafe  at  their  enforced  inactivity. 

Owing  to  the  conditions  under  which  the  bom- 
bardment took  place  and  the  strong  fortifications 


I877-]  OSMAN    PASHA    IN    THE    BATTERIES.  97 

of  Widdin,  the  Turkish  loss  in  killed  and  wounded 
was  remarkably  small  ;  for  on  June  27,  after 
several  weeks  of  intermittent  firing,  we  only  had 
about  twelve  killed  and  twenty  wounded. 

The  Roumanian  gunners  seemed  to  have  great 
difficulty  in  finding  the  range  ;  for  on  June  26, 
when  I  was  sitting  on  the  verandah  of  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Consulate,  all  the  Roumanian  batteries, 
six  in  number,  opened  fire  apparently  on  the 
consulate,  though  it  was  said  afterwards  that  their 
target  was  a  Turkish  monitor  lying  a  little  farther 
down  the  river.  The  first  two  shells  flew  over 
the  consulate,  the  next  exploded  in  the  adjoining 
house,  and  the  next  fell  into  the  river  about 
twenty  yards  from  where  we  were  sitting. 
Despairing,  it  seemed,  of  hitting  the  consulate, 
my  quondam  entertainers,  with  whom  I  had  dined 
not  so  long  before,  directed  their  efforts  upon  the 
fortress,  but  without  doing  any  serious  damage. 
On  the  following  morning  they  commenced  opera- 
tions at  seven  o'clock,  and  from  that  hour  until 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  screaming  of 
the  shells  was  incessant.  This  was  decidedly  the 
biggest  day  that  we  had  had,  and  the  Turkish 
batteries  responded  very  vigorously.  Osman 
Pasha  took  the  keenest  interest  in  the  artillery 
practice,  and  remained  in  one  of  our  largest 
batteries  for  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  While 
there  he  told  one  of  the  gunners  to  direct  his  fire 
upon  a  certain  battery.  The  gunner  fired  three 

7 


98  FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

times,  and  on  each  occasion  he  dropped  the  shell 
right  into  the  Roumanian  battery.  Osman  Pasha 
was  so  delighted  that  he  embraced  the  man,  and 
made  him  a  sergeant  on  the  spot. 

In  spite  of  the  stunning  noise  of  the  projectiles, 
many  of  which  weighed  sixty  pounds  apiece,  one 
soon  got  used  to  the  cannonading  ;  and  while  the 
bombardment  was  going  on,  I  often  sat  on  the 
battlements  with  my  legs  dangling  over  the  side, 
and  watched  the  Roumanian  gunners  at  their 
work. 

Our  friends  the  Circassians,  whenever  they 
found  time  hanging  heavy  on  their  hands,  were 
in  the  habit  of  relieving  the  monotony  by  private 
forays  across  the  river,  during  which  they  made 
things  very  unpleasant  for  the  Roumanian  out- 
posts. Osman  Pasha  himself  admitted  that  he 
could  put  no  reliance  upon  the  Circassians.  In 
his  treatise  on  the  campaign,  he  sums  up  this 
branch  of  his  troops  in  one  fitting  sentence  :  "  En 
resume,  leur  concours  fut  plus  invisible  qu'utile." 
At  the  same  time  he  points  out  that  the  savage 
excesses  of  the  Circassians  were  equalled,  if  not 
surpassed,  by  the  exploits  both  of  the  Cossacks 
and  the  Bulgarians,  who  never  allowed  an  oppor- 
tunity of  massacre  or  pillage  to  escape  them.  At 
the  same  time,  while  admitting  the  excesses  of 
the  Circassians,  he  is  careful  to  point  out  that 
the  regular  Ottoman  troops  were  kept  in  a 
thorough  state  of  discipline  by  their  officers. 


i877.]  OSMAN    PASHAS    PLANS.  99 

"  We  can  affirm,"  he  declares,  "  that  the  Turkish 
regulars  never  committed  an  act  similar  to  the 
massacre  of  the  defenders  of  Lovtcha,  nor  to  the 
inhuman  treatment  of  which  the  Turkish  prisoners 
were  the  victims  after  the  fall  of  Plevna." 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  give  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  plan  of  campaign  which  Osman 
Pasha  submitted  to  the  commander-in-chief, 
Abdul  Kerim  Pasha,  about  the  end  of  June,  and 
which,  had  it  been  adopted,  would  probably  have 
changed  the  whole  issue  of  the  war.  From  the 
official  records,  since  collated  under  the  Muchir's 
personal  supervision,  it  appears  that  Osman 
Pasha  proposed  to  the  commander-in-chief  to 
leave  about  twelve  battalions  of  infantry  for  the 
defence  of  Widdin,  and  to  unite  the  remainder 
of  the  forces  at  his  disposal,  namely,  nineteen 
battalions,  so  as  to  make  a  corps  d'armde,  at  the 
head  of  which  he  (Osman  Pasha)  should  leave 
Widdin.  He  would  pick  up  on  the  march  a  few 
battalions  from  the  garrison  of  Rahova,  make 
for  Plevna,  and  there  join  the  division  of  Hassan 
Hairi  Pasha,  who  would  quit  Nicopolis  without 
waiting  for  the  enemy's  attack.  Then  passing 
Lovtcha,  the  whole  column  would  march  upon 
Tirnova,  where  Osman  Pasha  would  effect  a 
junction  with  the  eastern  army  from  Shumla 
under  Mehemet  Ali  Pasha,  and  then  with  the 
two  combined  armies  march  in  the  direction  of 
Sistova.  If  this  junction  were  prevented  by  the 


IOO         FROM  WIDDIN  TO  PLEVNA. 

movements  of  the  Russian  army,  Osman  Pasha 
could  occupy  the  position  of  Lovtcha,  which  was 
better  situated  than  Plevna  for  the  defence  of 
the  Balkan  Passes. 

However,  Osman  Pasha  could  not  obtain  leave 
to  carry  out  his  plan,  and  he  even  encountered 
opposition  in  making  the  necessary  preparations. 
His  idea  was  of  course  to  assume  the  offensive, 
and  hurl  the  Russians  back  upon  Wallachia  be- 
fore their  reinforcements  arrived,  instead  of  being 
compelled,  as  afterwards  happened,  to  act  on  the 
defensive  at  Plevna. 

Afterwards,  on  July  10,  the  Sultan  gave 
Osman  Pasha  a  free  hand,  but  it  was  then  too 
late ;  and  so  it  came  about  that  delay  at  the 
critical  moment,  combined  with  the  incapacity  of 
Redif  Pasha,  the  Turkish  minister  of  war,  who 
was  responsible  for  the  defective  organization  of 
the  Ottoman  army,  its  reduced  strength,  and  its 
lack  of  proper  transport  and  commissariat  ser- 
vices, operating  together,  neutralized  the  brilliant 
generalship  of  Osman  Pasha  and  the  devoted 
courage  of  the  men  who  fought  under  him. 

On  the  evening  of  July  12  we  heard  the 
news  that  we  were  to  march  next  morning,  and 
every  heart  beat  high  at  the  prospect  of  an 
early  escape  from  the  demoralizing  inactivity  of 
life  in  the  bombarded  town.  Among  the  troops 
left  in  Widdin  for  garrison  duty  was  my  old 
regiment  the  Kyrchehir  ;  and  on  the  evening  of 


1877.1  WE    START    FOR    WIDDIN.  IOI 

July  12,  just  eight  days  before  the  first  battle 
of  Plevna,  I  rode  out  to  the  camp  to  bid  farewell 
to  my  old  comrades,  from  whom  I  was  now  to 
part,  for  in  accordance  with  my  own  request  to 
Hassib  Bey  I  had  been  appointed  to  go  on 
duty  with  the  troops  about  to  take  the  field. 
My  relations  with  both  the  officers  and  the 
men  of  the  Kyrchehir  Regiment  had  been  of  the 
most  cordial  nature  ever  since  I  joined  them  in 
Constantinople.  They  all  expressed  their  regret 
at  the  separation,  which,  I  need  hardly  say,  I 
felt  as  keenly  as  they  did.  My  leave-taking  with 
my  little  comrade  Mehemet  AH  the  paymaster, 
whose  tent-mate  I  had  been,  and  who  had  taught 
me  most  of  the  Turkish  that  I  knew,  was  specially 
affecting  ;  and  I  can  say  with  truth  that,  as  I 
cantered  back  to  Widdin  that  night  to  take  the 
field  against  the  enemy,  I  carried  with  me  the 
good  wishes  of  all  my  old  comrades. 

On  July  13  at  five  o'clock  we  marched  out 
of  Widdin,  bound,  as  we  afterwards  understood, 
for  Nicopolis.  Osman  Pasha's  army  consisted  of 
nineteen  battalions  of  infantry,  fifty-eight  guns, 
and  one  regiment  of  cavalry  ;*  while  Izzet  Pasha 
was  left  behind  with  the  remainder  of  the  troops 
to  garrison  Widdin.  I  was  attached  to  the 

*  Lieutenant  Herbert's  reckoning  gave  the  field  state  of 
Osman's  marching  out  strength  at  19  battalions,  6  squadrons, 
9  batteries ;  in  all  12,000  men,  with  54  guns.  Vide  The 
Defence  of  Plevna,  by  Lieutenant  V.  Herbert  (Longmans, 
Green,  &  Co.). 


IO2         FROM  WIDDIN  TO  PLEVNA. 

Shumla  Regiment,  which  had  the  reputation  of 
being  one  of  the  finest  fighting  regiments  in  the 
Ottoman  army  ;  and  two  other  surgeons,  Wein- 
berger and  Kustler,  both  Austrians,  accompanied 
the  advance  guard  with  me.  We  said  good-bye 
to  the  others  before  we  started,  and  we  all  drank 
each  other's  healths,  and  wished  each  other 
good  luck  in  the  unknown  struggle  that  was 
before  us. 

The  men  of  Osman  Pasha's  army  were  all  in 
splendid  fettle,  and  were  looking  forward  with 
longing  to  the  time  of  coming  to  close  quarters 
with  the  enemy.  Since  the  close  of  the  Servian 
war  they  had  all  been  well  fed  and  well  clothed, 
the  horses  were  in  tiptop  condition,  and  the  men 
set  out  upon  the  march  with  a  light  heart,  carry- 
ing each  his  seventy  rounds  of  ammunition  and 
his  accoutrements  reduced  to  the  lightest  marching 
order  as  if  the  weight  was  nothing.  We  had  a 
baggage  train  consisting  of  waggons  full  of  ammu- 
nition; but  there  was  no  commissariat  service, 
and  we  had  to  rely  for  sustenance  solely  on  the 
great  army  biscuits,  each  as  big  as  a  soup-plate, 
of  which  every  man  carried  a  supply.  Water 
was  obtained  from  the  water-carts,  which  followed 
the  column  in  case  streams  or  wells  should  fail 
us  en  route. 

It  was  the  height  of  summer,  and  the  weather 
was  terribly  hot  when  we  started  on  the  morning 
of  the  1 3th,  the  line  of  march  following  the  course 


1877.]  A    FALSE    ALARM.  1 03 

of  the  Danube,  though  at  some   distance   back, 
this  precaution  being  adopted  for  two  reasons — 
first,   to  conceal   our   objective  from  the  enemy 
and,  secondly,  to  minimize  the  danger  from  their 
guns. 

The  Roumanians  of  course  were  quickly  aware 
of  our  departure,  and  they  followed  us  with  their 
field-guns  on  the  other  side  of  the  river.  When 
they  began  to  shell  us,  however,  at  Vidpol,  we 
diverged  from  the  main  road,  and,  striking  farther 
back,  continued  our  march  without  sustaining  a 
single  casualty.  At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
the  column  camped  near  the  village  of  Artzar, 
and  I  rode  into  the  village  on  a  foraging  expedi- 
tion to  see  if  I  could  not  supplement  the  biscuits, 
which  were  very  hard  fare,  and  had  to  be  broken 
with  a  hatchet  and  soaked  in  water  before  they 
could  be  eaten. 

I  managed  to  buy  some  kabobs,  or  small  pieces 
of  meat  fixed  on  skewers  ;  and  Weinberger, 
Kustler,  and  I  made  a  fire,  and  cooked  a  modest 
supper,  which  we  ate  with  the  best  of  appetites. 
We  determined  to  camp  about  a  mile  away  from 
the  main  body,  and  tied  our  horses  up  to  the 
branches  of  a  huge  walnut  tree,  while  we  admired 
the  novel  sight  of  the  bivouac.  The  column 
had  halted  in  a  wooded  valley  among  the  hills 
and  along  the  bank  of  a  river ;  so  that  the  lights 
of  a  thousand  camp-fires  danced  on  the  quiet 
water,  and  the  hum  and  laughter  of  thirteen 


IO4  FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

thousand  men  came  to  our  ears  on  the  soft  night 
breeze  that  was  whispering  through  the  walnut 
trees.  Gradually  one  by  one  the  lights  died 
down  ;  the  men,  tired  with  the  long  and  dusty 
march,  wrapped  themselves  in  their  great-coats  ; 
and  the  camp  was  sunk  in  slumber.  At  about 
nine  o'clock  it  began  to  get  very  cold,  and  Wein- 
berger, Kustler,  and  I  decided  to  shift  our  quarters, 
and  move  in  among  the  main  body  to  warm  our- 
selves by  the  smouldering  camp-fires.  Picking 
our  way  gingerly  among  the  sleeping  forms  that 
lay  thickly  on  the  bare  ground,  we  came  to  a 
water-cart,  to  which  we  tied  our  horses,  and  then 
lay  down  to  sleep.  In  the  middle  of  the  night 
there  was  a  tremendous  uproar,  and  I  woke  with 
a  start,  fancying  that  the  Russians  were  upon 
us  ;  but  the  scare  was  groundless.  Our  horses 
had  pulled  over  the  water-cart,  broken  their 
bridles,  and  were  galloping  mad  with  fright 
among  the  sleeping  men  ;  while  the  cries  of  the 
sentries  and  the  curses  of  the  rudely  awakened 
sleepers  speedily  put  the  whole  camp  into  con- 
fusion. In  the  middle  of  it  all  Osman  Pasha 
put  in  an  appearance  to  see  what  the  noise 
was  about,  and  the  disturbance  ceased  as  quickly 
as  it  began.  With  a  few  blessings  from  the 
sentries,  we  dozed  off  again  to  snatch  what  sleep 
we  could,  knowing  that  we  had  a  hard  day  before 
us  on  the  morrow. 

On  the  following  day  the  marching  was  terribly 


1877.]  A    RACE   TO    THE    BALKANS.  105 

severe,  for  the  heat  was  intense,  and  the  distance 
we  had  already  travelled  had  told  on  the  men. 
About  half  a  dozen  fell  down  from  sunstroke,  and 
we  had  to  leave  them  by  the  side  of  the  road 
on  the  chance  that  the  arabas  bringing  up  the 
rear  would  pick  them  up.  We  came  to  several 
small  rivers  which  were  not  bridged  and  had  to 
be  forded,  while  the  roughness  of  the  country 
caused  much  trouble  to  the  artillery.  In  many 
places  the  path  was  so  precipitous  that  the  horses 
had  to  be  taken  out,  and  the  guns  pulled  up  to 
the  summit  by  the  men  with  drag-ropes.  At 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  column  reached 
Krivodol ;  and  here  Osman  Pasha  received  an 
urgent  telegraphic  message  from  Said  Pasha, 
the  Sultan's  private  secretary,  instructing  him  to 
push  on  with  the  utmost  possible  despatch,  and 
declaring  that  the  Turkish  Empire  was  then 
between  life  and  death. 

In  order  that  the  fatal  consequences  of  the 
long  delay  in  Widdin,  at  a  time  when  every 
moment  was  precious  and  when  every  Turkish 
soldier  was  needed  on  the  frontier,  may  be  clearly 
understood,  it  is  necessary  to  take  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  the  disposition  of  the  Russian  forces  and 
their  plan  of  campaign  during  those  momentous 
days  in  July. 

As  the  Franco-German  war  opened  with  a  race 
to  the  Rhine,  so  the  Russo-Turkish  war  opened 
with  a  race  to  the  Balkans,  and  the  Russians 


IO6         FROM  WIDDIN  TO  PLEVNA. 

got  there  first.  By  July  5,  while  we  were  still  in 
Widdin,  three  Russian  army  corps  had  crossed  the 
Danube  at  Sistova,  with  a  division  of  cavalry 
and  several  Cossack  regiments.  General  Gourko, 
with  a  strong  advanced  guard,  including  infantry, 
cavalry,  artillery,  and  mounted  pioneers,  had 
crossed  the  Balkans  by  the  bridle-path  of  Hain- 
Bogan,  an  exploit  requiring  extraordinary  efforts, 
and  debouched  near  Hainkioj  on  July  14.  Here 
Gourko's  dragoons  easily  routed  a  regiment  of 
three  hundred  Anatolian  Nizams ;  but  a  single 
Turkish  regiment  properly  informed  and  properly 
led  could  have  barred  the  pass  for  days.  On 
July  19  the  Shipka  Pass  was  taken,  a  consider- 
able Turkish  force  was  dispersed,  and  a  panic  was 
struck  at  Constantinople.  Meanwhile  General 
Kriidener,  with  the  Ninth  Russian  Army  Corps, 
left  Sistova  on  July  12,  on  the  i5th  invested 
Nicopolis,  and  on  the  i6th  received  the  sur- 
render of  that  fortress,  upon  which  Osman  Pasha 
was  then  marching.  Ahmed  Pasha,  Hassan 
Pasha,  with  seven  thousand  men,  were  made 
prisoners,  and  one  hundred  and  thirteen  guns, 
with  a  large  quantity  of  miscellaneous  stores, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Russians.  Had  Osman 
Pasha's  propositions  for  an  earlier  departure  from 
Widdin  been  carried  out,  Nicopolis  would  pro- 
bably have  been  saved  and  the  course  of  the 
campaign  entirely  changed.  It  was  the  news 
of  the  imminent  attack  on  Nicopolis,  which  was 


i877.]  SLEEPING    IN    A    TOMB.  IO7 

communicated  to  Osman  Pasha  while  we  were 
lying  in  camp  at  Krivodol,  which  caused  him  to 
break  up  the  camp  after  a  few  hours'  rest  and 
push  on  with  that  terrible  forced  march  to 
Plevna. 

We  reached  Krivodol  at  about  five  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  of  July  14,  and  bivouacked  near  the 
village.     It  was  a  most   picturesque  little  place, 
dotted  down  as  it  were  in  the  middle  of  a  sheltered 
valley  which  was  watered  by  a  little  river.     Here 
and  there  in  the  valley  I  saw  curious  mounds  of 
earth    about  twelve  feet  high,  and  on  inquiry   I 
found  that  these  were  the  tombs  of  Greek  in- 
habitants who  had  settled  here  under  the  Byzantine 
Empire.     After  a  successful  forage  for  eatables  in 
the  village,  I   decided  to  bivouac  on  the  top  of 
one  of  these  tombs  which  had  a  small  hollow  in 
the   summit   very  enticing  to   a   tired  man ;  but 
before  I  wrapped  myself  in  my  great-coat  for  a 
sleep,  the  spirit  of  antiquarian  research  got  hold 
of  me,  and  I  resolved  to  investigate  the  contents 
of  my  uncanny  sleeping-place.     By  the   offer  of 
a  few  piastres  apiece,   I   got  a  dozen  men  from 
my  regiment  with  picks  and  shovels,  and  under 
my   direction  they  dug   down    into  the   tumulus 
until  they  came  to  an  old  stone  coffin  containing 
some  bones,  two  pretty  Greek  vases,  and  a  few 
Byzantine  coins.     I  left  the  bones  in  their  place, 
and  filled  up  the  tomb  again,  taking  with  me  the 
coins   and    the   vases.     The    coins    I    afterwards 


IO8  FROM    WIDDIN    TO    PLEVNA. 

gave  away,  and  the  vases,  which  I  wrapped  up  in 
a  sheepskin  and  tied  to  my  saddle,  were  broken 
by  a  little  accident  which  occurred  next  night  on 
the  march. 

Before  midnight  the  march  was  resumed,  and 
for  the  remainder  of  the  night  and  all  next  day 
the  journey  was  continued,  until  we  reached  the 
village  of  Veltchiderma  late  in  the  afternoon. 
Weinberger  and  myself  rode  on  in  advance  of 
the  column  to  the  village  ;  and  I  was  so  thoroughly 
done  up  by  the  intense  heat  of  the  day  and  the 
exhaustion  of  the  march,  that  I  made  straight  for 
the  Turkish  khan  or  hotel,  and  after  getting  my 
horse  something  to  eat  I  fell  fast  asleep  in  the  only 
decent-sized  room  in  the  place.  When  I  woke 
up,  I  found  Osman  Pasha  and  his  staff  in  the  room 
talking.  I  apologized  for  my  presence,  and  he  was 
most  good-natured  about  it.  "A  soldier  sleeps 
when  he  can,  my  boy,"  he  said  ;  "  for  he  never 
knows  when  he  may  get  another  opportunity." 

After  my  sleep  I  went  down  to  the  river  and 
had  a  splendid  swim,  while  the  main  body  of  the 
column,  which  extended  several  miles  in  length, 
arrived  at  the  camping-ground.  We  were  just 
preparing  to  make  ourselves  comfortable  for  the 
night,  when  I  noticed  that  there  was  an  unusual 
amount  of  excitement  about  my  regiment ;  and  I 
found  to  my  disgust  that  an  advanced  guard 
of  about  seventeen  hundred  men,  including  my 
regiment,  had  orders  to  march  right  through  the 


I8/7.I  PUSHING    ON    TO    PLEVNA. 

night,  and  push  on  to  Plevna  with  the  utmost 
possible  speed.  Osman  Pasha  had  received  news 
by  telegraph  that  Nicopolis,  which  was  his  objec- 
tive, had  been  taken  by  the  Russians  ;  and  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  march  straight  to  Plevna, 
which  was  distant  sixty-nine  miles  from  Veltchi- 
derma. 

Oh,  the  monotonous  horror  of  that  march ! 
We  were  dead  tired  when  we  started  ;  and  all 
through  the  dark  night  the  men  stumbled  blindly 
on,  forbidden  to  sing  or  even  to  speak,  lest  they 
might  betray  their  presence  to  the  scouts  of  the 
enemy.  Silent,  sleepless,  footsore,  sick  for  want 
of  food,  and  faint  for  want  of  water,  they  marched 
on  the  long  road  to  Plevna.  Our  commander 
was  Emin  Bey,  and  we  had  about  fifty  cavalry 
scouts  with  us,  but  no  guns.  I  rode  behind 
Weinberger,  and  at  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing his  horse  pitched  head  foremost  into  a  deep 
hole  in  the  track,  and  I  went  after  him.  The 
two  of  us  with  our  horses  floundered  out  of 
the  hole  somehow  or  other,  and  we  fortunately 
escaped  with  a  few  bruises  ;  but  my  archaeological 
treasures  were  lost,  my  Greek  vases  tied  up  in 
the  sheepskin  were  smashed  to  atoms,  and  all 
my  sacrilegious  enterprise  had  gone  for  nothing. 

Next  night  the  men  were  so  tired  that  we  had 
to  camp  for  a  couple  of  hours  in  the  open  plain, 
as  they  could  positively  go  no  farther  without  a 
rest.  My  horse  had  had  hardly  anything  to  eat 


IIO         FROM  WIDDIN  TO  PLEVNA. 

all  day ;  so  I  rode  away  a  hundred  yards  from  the 
main  body  to  a  place  where  there  was  some  good 
grass,  and  decided  to  let  him  have  a  feed.  I  tied 
the  reins  round  my  wrist,  and  went  to  sleep  on 
the  open  plain.  When  I  woke  up  all  was  silent, 
for  the  troops  had  gone,  and  so  had  my  horse, 
while  I  knew  that  the  country  all  round  was 
swarming  with  Cossacks.  It  was  not  a  nice  pre- 
dicament to  be  in  ;  but  luckily  my  horse,  a  beauti- 
ful little  Arab  stallion  and  very  quiet,  had  not 
strayed  far,  and  I  easily  caught  and  mounted  him. 
Then  I  went  in  pursuit  of  the  troops,  and  by  a 
combination  of  luck  and  judgment  I  found  them 
before  I  had  ridden  many  miles. 

We  lost  half  a  dozen  men  next  day  from  sun- 
stroke ;  and  I  could  do  nothing  to  save  the  poor 
fellows,  who  simply  dropped  in  their  tracks,  and 
had  to  be  left  to  die  at  the  side  of  the  road. 
We  had  hardly  any  water,  and  the  men  suffered 
terribly,  the  feet  of  numbers  of  them  being  quite 
raw  with  continual  marching.  I  bound  up  their 
feet  as  well  as  I  could  with  linen  and  old  rags, 
but  the  men  who  wore  sandals  were  much  better 
off  than  those  who  wore  boots  ;  and  the  severity 
of  the  march  may  be  guessed  from  the  fact 
that,  while  the  advanced  guard  consisted  of  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  men  when  it  started, 
there  remained  only  one  thousand  three  hundred 
when  it  reached  Plevna.  The  others  had  dropped 
out  on  the  way,  and  those  that  remained  alive 


i877-J  GOOSE    FOR    DINNER.  Ill 

were  picked  up  by  the  waggons  following    the 
main  body  behind  us. 

That  afternoon  we  crossed  the  river  Isker,  the 
men  wading  through  the  water,  which  reached  to 
their  shoulders.  Weinberger  and  I  found  that 
the  troops  were  to  halt  for  a  couple  of  hours  near 
a  Bulgarian  village,  and  we  rode  in  to  see  if  we 
could  not  get  something  to  eat.  Since  leaving 
Plevna  we  had  eaten  nothing  but  a  handful  of 
kabobs,  some  maize  plucked  in  the  fields,  and 
our  hard  biscuits. 

The  first  thing  that  attracted  my  attention  as 
I  rode  into  that  village  was  a  flock  of  geese, 
and  I  remember  saying  to  Weinberger,  "  Look 
here  ;  I  don't  know  what  you  are  going  to  do, 
but  I  am  going  to  have  a  goose  for  dinner." 
We  saw  a  Bulgarian,  who  was  evidently  the 
proprietor  of  the  geese ;  and  Weinberger,  who 
spoke  Bulgarian  fluently,  opened  pourparlers  on 
the  subject,  and  offered  a  medjidie  apiece  for 
two  of  the  birds.  The  Bulgarian  was  obdurate, 
and  refused  to  sell  at  any  price.  We  talked  to 
him  politely,  we  urged  the  claims  of  hospitality, 
and  we  descanted  upon  the  high  price  which  we 
were  prepared  to  give,  but  all  to  no  purpose. 
The  idea  of  losing  a  splendid  dinner  which  was 
already  practically  in  my  grasp  enraged  me,  and 
I  made  Weinberger  cover  the  Bulgarian  with  his 
revolver  while  I  secured  the  materials  for  a  meal. 
With  the  revolver  barrel  levelled  at  his  head,  the 


112         FROM  WIDDIN  TO  PLEVNA. 

Bulgarian  was  obliged  to  watch  me  sulkily  as  I 
chased  the  flock  of  geese  with  my  drawn  sword. 
The  blade  was  as  keen  as  a  razor,  and  with  a 
couple  of  swishing  strokes  I  smote  off  the  heads 
of  two  of  the  birds.  We  plucked  them,  cleaned 
them,  and  roasted  them ;  Weinberger  ate  one, 
and  I  ate  the  other. 

When  we  had  finished  this  hearty  meal,  we 
found  that  the  troops  had  gone  on  ;  so  we  rode 
after  them,  and  travelled  right  through  the  night, 
finding  ourselves  next  morning  about  four  miles 
from  Plevna.  This  was  the  sixth  day  after 
leaving  Widdin,  and  we  had  done  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  altogether,  having  covered  the 
last  seventy  miles  in  three  nights  and  two  days 
of  almost  continuous  marching — a  feat  which  will 
bear  comparison  with  the  greatest  forced  marches 
on  record.  The  men  had  subsisted  on  two 
biscuits  per  day  with  a  very  small  allowance  of 
water,  and  each  man  had  carried  seventy  rounds 
of  ammunition  as  well  as  his  accoutrements.  Few 
of  them,  moreover,  had  received  a  single  penny 
of  pay  for  the  past  twelve  months,  and  yet  they 
stuck  to  their  work  with  indomitable  pluck  and 
good  humour. 

When  we  reached  the  bridge  across  the  Vid, 
about  three  miles  from  our  destination,  on  the 
morning  of  July  18,  the  column  could  go  no 
farther,  and  we  halted  for  the  last  time  in  sight 
of  the  minarets  of  Plevna. 


i877-]  ARRIVAL    AT    PLEVNA.  113 

Alouf  Pasha  with  three  battalions  had  been 
in  the  town  for  some  time,  and  Osman  Pasha 
had  sent  us  on  in  advance  to  assist  him  in  holding 
Plevna  until  the  main  body  could  arrive. 

When  I  rode  into  Plevna  at  eleven  o'clock 
in  the  morning  of  July  18,  I  went  straight  to 
a  khan  and  had  a  Turkish  bath,  after  which  I 
sallied  out  to  survey  the  town. 


8 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

The  Town  of  Plevna— A  Natural  Stronghold— Le  Petit  Village 
— The  Gypsies'  Warning — Dr.  Robert — An  Expatriated 
Bacchanalian — We  attend  a  Banquet — The  First  Battle  of 
Plevna — An  Artillery  Duel — Surgical  Aid  to  the  Wounded — 
A  Gunner's  Death — The  Zacuska — Arranging  the  Hospitals 
— Disposition  of  the  Turkish  Line  of  Defence — Commence- 
ment of  the  Battle — Fighting  on  the  Janik  Bair — Arrival  of 
the  Wounded — Sufferings  in  the  Arabas — Variety  in  Gunshot 
Wounds — Some  Extraordinary  Recoveries — Turkish  Forti- 
tude— Objections  to  Alcohol — And  to  Amputation — Berdan 
v.  Krenke  Bullets — A  Man  shot  through  the  Brain — Rapid 
Cure — An  Erratic  Rifle-ball — Remarkable  Example  of  Vitality 
— A  Missile  in  the  Heart  of  a  Living  Man — My  Second 
Hospital — A  Turkish  Colonel's  Wound — Insufficient  Beds — 
Mangled  Wretches  lying  on  the  Floor — Two  Russians 
wounded — They  both  die — The  Shambles  in  the  Mosque — 
Our  Open-air  Operating  Theatre — Calling  the  Faithful  to 
Prayer. 

THE  town  of  Plevna  is  built  in  the  valley  of  the 
Tutchenitza,  a  small  affluent  of  the  Vid,  about 
three  miles  from  the  meeting  of  the  two,  and 
just  south  of  the  confluence  of  the  former  with 
the  Grivitza,  which  gave  its  name  to  the  cele- 
brated Grivitza  redoubt.  Before  the  war  Plevna 

contained  about  seventeen  thousand  inhabitants 

114 


i877.]  A    NATURAL    STRONGHOLD.  115 

eight  mosques,  and  two  Christian  churches.  All 
round  the  angle  formed  by  the  confluence  of 
the  Grivitza  and  Tutchenitza  are  rolling  hills, 
rising  to  their  highest  on  the  north  near  the 
villages  of  Opanetz,  Bukova,  and  Grivitza.  To 
the  east  one  could  see  a  number  of  small  isolated 
hills,  forming  natural  mamelons ;  and  on  the  south 
a  huge  natural  rampart  defends  the  town.  On 
the  left  bank  of  the  Tutchenitza  rise  a  succession 
of  knolls,  which  were  called  by  the  Russians  the 
"  Green  Hills";  and  here  some  of  the  heaviest 
of  the  fighting  afterwards  took  place. 

When  we  of  the  advance  guard  arrived  at 
Plevna  on  the  morning  of  July  18,  the  uncut 
maize  stood  high  on  the  hill-slopes  round  the 
town,  and  in  places  even  a  cavalry  trooper 
might  be  hidden.  The  Green  Hills  were 
covered  with  vineyards,  and  there  was  plenty 
of  timber,  consisting  mostly  of  oaks  and  beeches, 
which  speedily  vanished  as  the  campaign  pro- 
gressed, until  the  hills  were  desolate  in  their 
absolute  bareness.  When  Osman  Pasha  arrived, 
the  fortifications  consisted  of  a  single  blockhouse, 
between  the  Vid  and  the  Tutchenitza  on  the 
Sofia  road,  of  the  kind  which  one  saw  all  along 
the  Servian  and  Albanian  frontiers.  The  posi- 
tion, however,  offered  splendid  opportunities  for 
defence,  enclosed  as  it  was  on  three  sides  by 
hills,  which  afforded  admirable  sites  for  defensive 
works,  hiding  the  interior  and  allowing  reserves 


Il6  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

to  be  concentrated  out  of  sight  ready  to  be 
directed  on  any  threatened  point.  The  deep 
ravines  which  break  up  the  country  and  for 
the  most  part  converge  on  Plevna  rendered  the 
lateral  communication  of  the  attacking  force  very 
difficult,  so  that  the  tactical  contact,  which  is  so 
important  to  the  success  of  a  combined  attack 
on  two  points,  was  scarcely  possible.  It  was 
easy  to  see  that  the  ground  was  difficult  for  the 
movements  of  cavalry  and  guns  ;  and  the  maize, 
vineyards,  and  scrub  combined  to  prevent  the 
rapid  movement  even  of  infantry. 

In  a  short  but  highly  suggestive  sketch  en- 
titled Le  Petit  Village,  Zola  describes  a  modest 
little  hamlet,  nestling  in  a  valley,  remote  from 
the  busy  world  outside,  and  screened  by  a  curtain 
of  closely  planted  poplars  from  the  eyes  of 
curious  strangers.  It  is  watered  by  a  small 
gurgling  stream,  along  the  banks  of  which  are 
built  the  simple  cottages  of  the  country  folk. 
To-day  the  very  existence  of  the  hamlet  is  un- 
known, even  to  the  dwellers  in  the  neighbouring 
towns.  To-morrow  the  curtain  of  poplars  has 
been  rent  by  shot  and  shell,  the  little  river  runs 
red  with  blood,  and  the  name  of  "  Woerth  "  is 
blazoned  in  letters  of  fire  upon  the  page  of 
history.  So  has  it  been  with  Plevna.  The  little 
town  had  never  been  heard  of  before  the  cam- 
paign of  1877 — 1878,  and  it  is  not  even  mentioned 
in  Von  Moltke's  sketch  of  the  defensive  advan- 


I877-]  THE    GYPSIES'    WARNING.  117 

tages  of  Bulgaria.  Now  its  name  is  known  to 
every  schoolboy,  and  the  mere  mention  of  it 
makes  the  pulse  beat  faster  wherever  pure 
patriotism  and  unflinching  devotion  to  duty  in 
the  face  of  fearful  suffering  are  recognized  and 
honoured. 

I  walked  through  the  narrow  streets  of  Plevna 
on  the  day  before  the  first  battle,  and  saw  a  town 
already  deserted  by  most  of  the  wealthy  inhabi- 
tants. Here  and  there  I  noticed  a  Turkish 
civilian  dressed  in  the  long,  loose  caftan,  and  the 
wide  trousers  tucked  into  high  boots,  which 
formed  the  universal  dress  of  the  Turks ;  while 
the  Bulgarians  wore  the  sheepskin  caps  and  suits 
of  coarse  yellow  frieze  which  I  had  seen  before 
in  Widdin  and  Sofia.  The  streets  were  paved 
with  cobble-stones,  and  the  main  street  formed 
the  principal  bazaar  of  the  place ;  while  sundry 
evil-smelling  lanes,  running  off  to  the  right  and 
left,  were  inhabited  by  scowling  Bulgarians,  who 
looked  as  though  they  would  have  cut  my  throat 
with  the  greatest  pleasure.  The  Tutchenitza  ran 
right  across  the  main  street ;  and  here  I  saw  the 
women  washing  clothes  and  chattering  together, 
apparently  unconscious  of  the  dreadful  trials 
before  them. 

At  the  lower  end  of  the  long,  straggling  main 
street,  however,  there  was  a  collection  of  dirty 
little  huts  occupied  by  the  Gypsies  ;  and  when  they 
saw  the  troops  coming,  they  seemed  to  recognize 


Il8  THE    FIRST    BATTLE   OF    PLEVNA. 

that  the  horrors  of  war  were  near,  for  they  set  up 
a  prolonged  wailing,  while  they  wrung  their  hands 
with  gestures  of  the  deepest  grief. 

Leaving  them  to  their  lamentations,  I  pro- 
ceeded to  investigate  the  resources  of  the  town, 
and  was  overjoyed  to  discover  a  European  doctor, 
upon  whom  I  promptly  called  and  introduced 
myself.  He  was  a  very  original  character  this 
Dr.  Robert,  and  how  he  came  to  Plevna  in 
the  first  instance  I  never  found  out.  Born  at 
Neuchatel  in  Switzerland,  he  disappeared  from 
the  paths  of  European  civilization  when  he  had 
finished  his  medical  course,  and  eventually  settled 
down  in  Plevna,  where  he  had  been  for  ten  years 
before  I  met  him.  He  was  not  a  bad-looking 
man,  apparently  about  thirty-three  years  of  age, 
with  a  fair  beard  and  moustache.  He  had  a  good 
practice  among  the  Bulgarians,  and  had  evidently 
become  a  fashionable  physician  who  commanded 
his  own  price.  Dr.  Robert  lived  in  the  best 
house  of  the  town,  and  drove  the  finest  team  of 
four  black  cobs  that  I  ever  sat  behind.  He  had 
a  regular  menagerie  in  his  gardens,  which  were 
fenced  with  wire,  and  contained  a  collection  of 
storks  and  herons,  a  tame  animal  which  I  took 
to  be  a  jackal,  and  four  deer,  which  we  afterwards 
ate.  He  had  some  good  ideas  as  a  landscape 
gardener  too,  and  had  tapped  the  Tutchenitza  for 
water  to  irrigate  his  domain  by  means  of  channels. 

After   calling   on   Dr.    Robert,   I    went   off  to 


I877-]  DR.    ROBERT.  I  IQ 

pay  my  respects  to  the  kaimakan,  or  Turkish 
governor  of  the  town,  who  had  his  quarters  in  the 
konak,  or  townhall,  a  fine  structure,  built  from  the 
stone  taken  from  an  old  Roman  ruin  which  once 
occupied  the  site.  We  afterwards  used  this 
building  as  a  hospital.  The  kaimakan  was  very 
courteous,  and  placed  a  clerk  at  my  disposal,  who 
found  me  quarters  in  a  small,  isolated  Bulgarian 
house  at  the  extreme  north  of  the  town. 

After  making  these  necessary  arrangements  I 
joined  Weinberger,  and  we  both  went  to  dinner 
with  Dr.  Robert,  who  had  not  seen  any  European 
except  his  housekeeper  for  ten  years,  and  was 
naturally  eager  to  meet  visitors  who  could  tell 
him  of  the  haunts  of  his  youth.  The  housekeeper 
was  a  Viennese  woman,  decidedly  unprepossessing 
in  appearance,  but  a  most  excellent  cook  ;  and 
Weinberger  and  I,  who  had  quite  recovered 
our  appetites  after  eating  the  two  geese  at 
Veltchiderma,  enjoyed  that  dinner  thoroughly. 
The  doctor's  house  was  furnished  with  every 
luxury.  There  were  knives  and  forks  and  chairs, 
not  to  mention  a  piano  ;  and  as  it  was  the  first 
European  meal  that  I  had  eaten  for  many 
months,  with  the  exception  of  my  dinner  with  the 
Roumanians  at  Kalafat,  it  is  needless  to  say 
that  I  made  a  first-rate  repast.  We  drank  a 
great  many  bottles  of  Bulgarian  wine,  and  the 
more  Dr.  Robert  drank  the  more  loquacious  he 
became,  recounting  his  early  bacchanalian  and 


12O  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

amatory  exploits  in  German  with  a  particularity 
of  detail  that  was  most  edifying.  Then  he  sat 
down  at  the  piano  and  thumped  the  keys  furiously, 
while  he  roared  out  convivial  ditties  in  French, 
German,  and  Bulgarian  until  the  whole  house 
shook  as  if  under  the  concussion  of  a  bombard- 
ment. Even  the  Viennese  housekeeper,  who 
made  her  appearance  upon  the  festive  scene  with 
a  threatening  aspect,  failed  to  keep  him  quiet ; 
and  Dr.  Robert  was  still  chanting  the  praises 
of  "  Wein,  Weib,  und  Gesang"  when  I  made  my 
way  to  my  new  quarters  and  sank  into  a  deep 
and  dreamless  slumber,  which  even  the  manifold 
insects  of  Bulgaria  were  powerless  to  disturb. 

Next  morning  I  rode  out  to  my  regiment, 
which  was  camped  on  the  hills,  and  asked  the 
colonel  to  supply  me  with  a  servant.  He  ordered 
up  six  men  for  my  inspection,  and  I  chose 
a  particularly  smart-looking  young  Circassian 
named  Mehemet,  who  afterwards  became  my 
faithful  adherent,  and  performed  his  duties  as 
groom  and  cook  most  satisfactorily.  Then  I 
rode  away  to  the  bridge  over  the  Vid,  and 
watched  the  arrival  of  Osman  Pasha  with  the 
main  body.  They  were  all  pretty  well  fagged 
out  with  fatigue  and  want  of  food  and  sleep  ; 
but  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost,  for  the  Russians 
were  already  advancing  from  Nicopolis  upon 
Plevna,  so  Osman  Pasha  and  his  staff  rode 
out  at  once  and  selected  tactical  points  for  the 


I877-]  AN    ARTILLERY    DUEL.  121 

disposition  of  the  troops.  A  strong  force  was 
sent  out  to  the  Janik  Bair  facing  due  north, 
another  detachment  was  sent  to  the  village  of 
Grivitza  in  the  hills  facing  east,  and  there  was 
also  an  outpost  in  front  of  the  village  of  Opanetz. 

After  seeing  the  troops  arrive,  I  went  to  lunch 
with  Dr.  Robert,  who  had  arranged  to  go  with 
me  and  see  the  fighting  if  there  should  be  any. 
At  one  o'clock  I  heard  the  boom  of  the  Russian 
cannon  which  marked  the  opening  of  the  pro- 
tracted hostilities  round  Plevna,  and  the  challenge 
received  an  immediate  response  from  our  batteries. 
Immediately  all  the  Bulgarians  in  Plevna  retired 
to  their  cellars,  or  any  other  place  of  security 
that  they  could  find ;  and  Dr.  Robert  and  I 
rode  off  along  the  Nicopolis  road  to  the  Janik 
Bair,  where  the  Turkish  batteries  were  in  position. 
By  keeping  just  below  the  crest  of  the  hill, 
Robert  and  I  were  safe  from  the  shells,  which 
either  fell  short  on  the  far  side  of  the  hill,  or 
else  flew  over  our  heads  in  the  direction  of  the 
town.  The  hills  were  lined  with  our  troops, 
who  were  all  under  cover,  and,  tying  my  horse 
to  a  tree,  I  walked  up  towards  the  summit.  On 
my  left  I  could  see  the  villages  of  Bukova  and 
Opanetz,  while  on  the  rising  ground  in  front  of 
me  a  mile  away  I  caught  an  occasional  glimpse 
of  the  gleam  of  Russian  bayonets. 

Looking   out   from    the   crest   of   the   hill    on 
which  the  Turkish  batteries  came  into  action,  I 


122  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

saw  the  ridge  of  a  smaller  hill  in  front  of  me,  and 
beyond  it  a  second  slope  of  rising  ground,  upon 
which  the  Russian  artillerymen  had  planted  their 
guns.  These  formed  part  of  the  force  which 
General  Schilder-Schuldner  had  under  his  com- 
mand, and  with  which  he  advanced  next  day 
with  the  greatest  confidence  to  a  crushing  defeat. 
The  hill  upon  which  the  Russian  guns  were 
planted  was  thickly  timbered,  and  at  first  I  could 
see  nothing  but  puffs  of  smoke  followed  by 
leaping  flashes  of  flame.  Then  came  the  scream 
of  the  shell,  which  in  the  great  majority  of  cases 
either  buried  itself  in  the  hill-face  below  our 
batteries,  or  else  flew  overhead  and  dropped 
half  a  mile  behind  us  in  the  valley  towards 
Plevna.  We  had  eighteen  guns  right  on  the 
summit  of  the  hill  extended  in  line,  with  hastily 
thrown  up  entrenchments  in  front,  and  the  firing 
was  almost  continuous.  I  made  my  way  to  the 
extreme  left,  where  I  took  up  a  position  in  rear  of 
the  battery,  and  watched  the  firing.  The  artillery 
horses  had  been  left  under  cover  in  the  rear,  and 
the  men  settled  down  steadily  for  an  afternoon's 
practice  at  long  range.  It  was  the  first  time  that 
I  had  been  under  fire  in  the  open  field,  and  1 
watched  the  proceedings  with  the  closest  interest, 
having  my  box  of  instruments  and  my  packet 
of  tiftig,  or  lint,  ready  for  treating  the  wounded. 
Both  sides  were  firing  common  shell,  apparently 
rather  as  an  evidence  of  willingness  than  with 


i877-]  A    GUNNERS    DEATH.  123 

any  hope  of  doing  serious  damage  at  so  long  a 
range.  I  counted  about  forty  Russian  guns  in 
action,  and  after  a  while  I  could  see  the  shells  in 
the  air  quite  plainly,  and  could  pretty  well  judge 
where  they  would  fall.  When  they  struck  the 
hill-face  below  us,  a  cloud  of  dust  would  fly  up  as 
they  exploded  in  the  earth ;  and  when  they  flew 
over  us,  I  could  hear  them  buzzing  like  hornets 
as  they  sailed  away  into  the  valley  behind. 
While  I  was  making  my  way  up  to  the  left  of  our 
line,  I  saw  three  Turkish  artillerymen  lying  dead. 
One  had  been  shot  in  the  abdomen,  and  pre- 
sented a  terrible  spectacle  with  his  intestines  all 
hanging  out.  The  two  others  had  had  their  legs 
carried  away  by  shells.  When  I  reached  the 
farthest  battery,  I  found  one  of  the  gunners  with 
his  hand  ripped  open  by  a  splinter  of  iron,  and  I 
rendered  surgical  aid  to  my  first  wounded  man 
under  fire,  washing  the  injury  with  water  from 
my  water-bottle,  sewing  up  the  hand,  and 
dressing  it  with  tiftig  from  my  wallet.  Then  I 
sent  the  man  to  the  rear,  and  told  him  to  report 
himself  at  the  hospital. 

Here  it  was  too  that  I  saw  my  first  man  killed 
in  the  open  field.  It  happened  this  way.  I  was 
lying  on  my  stomach  exactly  on  the  summit  of 
the  hill,  and  about  twenty-five  yards  from  the 
end  gun  of  the  battery,  watching  the  Russian 
practice,  when  I  saw  six  simultaneous  puffs 
of  smoke  and  six  flashes  of  fire  dart  from  the 


124  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

oak  wood  on  the  distant  slope.  One  of  the 
gunners  at  the  end  gun  in  the  battery  next  me 
was  in  the  act  of  "  laying  "  it,  and  was  squinting 
along  the  sights  to  get  the  elevation  of  the 
Russian  battery,  when  the  six  shells  started 
on  their  journey.  Those  flashes  of  fire  were 
the  last  things  he  ever  saw  on  earth,  for  one 
of  the  shells  struck  him  full  in  the  face  and 
took  his  head  clean  off.  There  was  a  spirting 
from  the  blood-vessels  in  the  neck,  and  then 
the  headless  corpse  spun  round  in  a  circle,  the 
legs  moving  convulsively  like  those  of  a  chicken 
when  its  throat  is  cut.  I  was  so  close  to  the 
man  that  I  could  see  every  movement,  and  the 
sight  affected  my  nerve  centres  in  the  way  that 
the  normal  system  is  affected  by  any  sudden 
and  horrible  sight ;  that  is  to  say,  I  turned  cold 
all  over,  and  was  very  sick  on  the  spot.  A  few 
months  later  the  frequent  repetition  of  similar 
spectacles  had  so  dulled  the  sensitiveness  of 
my  nerve  centres,  that  I  could  look  upon  the 
most  shocking  casualties  without  experiencing  the 
slightest  physical  inconvenience.  We  dragged 
the  gunner's  headless  corpse  to  the  rear,  where 
it  was  buried  the  same  evening. 

Both  sides  ceased  firing  at  about  six  o'clock, 
at  which  time  we  had  only  nine  men  killed  and 
three  wounded.  I  heard  afterwards  that  the 
Russian  loss  was  also  small.  The  demonstration 
hardly  rose  to  the  dignity  of  an  engagement, 


i877-]  THE    ZACUSKA.  125 

and  doubtless  the  Russians  regarded  it  more 
as  an  appetizer  for  the  solid  fare  to  follow  than 
anything  else.  At  Russian  dinner  parties  there 
is  always  a  preliminary  course  called  the  zacuska, 
consisting  generally  of  caviare  or  sardines 
devilled  with  cayenne,  with  which  the  guests 
are  expected  to  sharpen  their  appetites.  This 
artillery  duel  was  the  zacuska  to  prepare  the 
combatants  for  the  piece  de  resistance  on  the 
morrow. 

Every  one  knew  when  the  fields-guns  ceased 
talking  on  the  evening  of  the  iQth  that  we 
were  in  for  a  big  fight  next  day,  and  that  the 
Russians  were  preparing  to  make  an  infantry 
attack.  Hassib  Bey,  the  principal  medical  officer, 
and  Reif  Bey,  his  second  in  command,  were 
busy  making  preparations  for  the  reception 
of  the  wounded  ;  and  the  owners  of  several  of 
the  largest  houses  were  unceremoniously  evicted 
by  the  military  authorities  with  the  curt  notifica- 
tion that  their  residences  were  required  for 
hospital  purposes.  Weinberger  and  I  dined 
with  Robert  that  night  at  his  house,  and  had 
a  tremendous  "  shivoo,"  the  expatriated  Swiss 
surpassing  all  his  previous  bacchanalian  exploits, 
and  adding  sundry  incoherent  battle-songs  to 
his  repertoire  of  selections,  until  the  Viennese 
housekeeper  finally  asserted  her  authority  and 
closed  the  festivities.  I  went  off  to  bed  at  my 
own  quarters  about  midnight,  and  found  that 


126  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

my  Circassian  had  arranged  all  my  effects  in 
order  and  made  me  fairly  comfortable.  All 
the  medical  staff  had  received  instructions  to 
assemble  at  the  main  hospital  at  seven  o'clock 
in  the  morning ;  so  I  tumbled  into  bed  at  once, 
and  slept  until  I  was  awakened  at  about  six 
o'clock  by  the  roar  of  the  field  artillery  in  action 
once  more.  The  guns  had  already  been  firing 
for  a  couple  of  hours,  and  the  engagement  was 
in  full  progress,  when  I  hurried  to  the  large 
Bulgarian  schoolhouse,  which  had  been  con- 
verted into  the  principal  hospital. 

At  this  stage  it  will  be  convenient  to  sketch 
briefly  the  main  features  of  the  attack  which 
General  Schilder-Schuldner  delivered  on  Plevna 
on  July  20,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  he  was 
defeated  by  Osman  Pasha. 

The  total  Russian  force  operating  against  him 
was  supposed  by  Osman  Pasha,  from  information 
which  we  obtained,  to  amount  to  thirteen  thousand 
men.  The  total  available  strength  in  Plevna  was 
about  fifteen  thousand  men,  most  of  whom,  how- 
ever, were  in  poor  trim  for  fighting,  having  just 
arrived  after  a  long  and  arduous  march,  and 
having  been  deprived  of  sleep  for  many  nights 
in  succession.  On  the  night  before  the  battle 
Osman  Pasha  gave  strict  orders  to  the  outposts 
to  exercise  the  greatest  vigilance,  so  as  to  prevent 
a  night  surprise,  and  instructed  the  commanding 
officers  to  group  their  men  as  much  as  possible, 


i877.]  THE    JANIK    BAIR.  127 

and  not  allow  them  to  straggle.  An  attack  was 
imminent ;  but  it  was  difficult  to  foresee  in  what 
direction  it  would  be  made.  Roughly  speaking, 
the  Turkish  line  of  defence  extended  from  the 
village  of  Grivitza  on  the  east  of  the  town,  along 
the  slopes  of  the  Janik  Bair,  and  away  through 
Bukova  to  Opanetz  on  the  north-west,  the  right 
wing  being  at  Grivitza  and  the  left  at  Opanetz. 

Soon  after  four  o'clock  the  battle  began  by  the 
Russian  artillery  opening  fire  upon  the  Grivitza 
positions,  and  the  Turkish  batteries  at  once 
replied.  Then  a  brisk  fusillade  was  heard  on  the 
hills  in  the  direction  of  Opanetz,  and  the  general 
advance  of  the  Russians  began.  Five  battalions 
of  Russian  infantry  advanced  to  the  assault,  and 
threw  themselves  upon  the  Turkish  left  wing, 
forcing  it  backwards. 

Osman  Pasha  quickly  despatched  supports,  and 
the  Turks  charged  home  with  the  bayonet,  whilst 
the  Russian  troops  stood  firm  against  the  attack. 
The  heaviest  of  the  fighting  took  place  on  the 
slope  of  the  Janik  Bair  extending  towards  Plevna, 
and  here  the  loud  "  hurrahs "  of  the  Russians 
were  answered  by  cries  of  "  Allah,"  "  Allah,"  from 
the  Turkish  lines.  After  three  hours'  fighting 
the  Russians,  who  had  sustained  enormous  losses, 
were  repulsed  and  driven  off  in  full  retreat,  while 
the  reserves  sent  up  to  support  them  retired 
without  having  taken  part  in  the  engagement. 
The  initial  success  of  the  Russians  in  forcing 


128  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

back  the  Turkish  line  of  defence  no  doubt  con- 
duced towards  their  defeat ;  for,  encouraged  by 
the  result  of  the  first  attack,  they  straggled  on 
in  disorder,  and  fell  in  with  a  hot  fire  from  the 
hedges  and  walls  all  round  them. 

While  our  troops  were  holding  the  enemy  in 
check  on  the  left,  a  Russian  infantry  attack  was 
developed  on  our  right  wing,  where  two  lines  of 
trenches  were  carried  ;  and  finally  the  third  and 
last  trench  was  also  carried  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet,  nearly  all  the  Russian  officers  having 
been  killed.  Turkish  supports  were  hurried  upr 
and  the  Russians,  who  had  suffered  terrible  loss, 
were  driven  from  the  positions  which  they  had 
taken,  and  were  put  to  complete  rout. 

When  I  reached  the  building  where  I  was 
instructed  to  report  myself,  I  found  that  it  con- 
sisted of  two  large  rooms,  the  outer  of  which 
contained  fifty  beds,  while  the  inner  was  furnished 
with  three  or  four  benches  intended  to  serve  as 
operating  tables.  The  rooms  were  high  and 
well  ventilated  with  many  windows,  and  fortu- 
nately there  was  an  abundant  water  supply,  while 
the  building  stood  in  about  two  or  three  acres  of 
ground.  This  had  originally  been  the  playground 
of  the  Bulgarian  children  who  attended  the  school. 
Now  it  was  filled  with  wounded  men,  and  the 
laughter  of  the  children  was  replaced  by  groans 
of  agony.  Already  the  courtyard  was  full ;  and 
as  I  looked  up  the  Nicopolis  road  I  could  see 


i877-]  THE    WOUNDED    IN    ARABAS.  1 29 

a  long  string  of  Bulgarian  arabas,  each  drawn 
by  two  little  white  oxen,  bringing  the  wounded 
down  from  the  battle-field.  Only  the  men  who 
were  gravely  wounded  were  brought  in  these 
arabas,  and  hundreds  had  to  drag  themselves 
down  on  foot.  As  the  rough,  springless  arabas 
jolted  over  the  cobble-stones  of  the  Plevna  street, 
the  sufferings  of  the  wounded  men  must  have  been 
excruciating.  There  was  no  field  hospital  to 
render  first  aid,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  imagine  the 
misery  of  an  unfortunate  wretch,  say,  with  a  com- 
pound fracture  of  the  thigh,  transported  in  a  cart 
and  without  any  surgical  attendance  from  the 
field  to  the  base  hospital.  The  two  ends  of  the 
bone  jarring  together  with  every  movement  of 
the  cart  could  not  but  cause  the  most  exquisite 
agony. 

As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach  stretched  the  long 
line  of  arabas,  each  with  its  load  of  suffering  men. 
Every  cart  was  driven  by  its  Bulgarian  owner, 
and  escorted  by  a  Turkish  soldier  to  see  that  the 
Bulgarian  did  not  despatch  the  unhappy  victims 
before  their  time.  The  foremost  carts  had  already 
arrived,  and  the  entrance  was  blocked  by  the 
jostling  drivers  all  anxious  to  get  rid  of  their  loads, 
while  every  minute  fresh  wounded  kept  staggering 
in  on  foot.  Even  the  stoical  Turks  could  not  help 
moaning  when  they  were  lifted  out  of  the  carts 
by  unskilful  hands  and  dragged  into  the  hospital, 
which  was  quickly  assuming  the  appearance  of  a 

9 


I3O  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

slaughter-house.  Dead  and  dying  were  lying 
one  on  top  of  another  in  many  of  the  arabas, 
matted  together  with  clotted  blood. 

Other  ambulances  had  been  established  in 
different  parts  of  the  town ;  but  this  was  the 
principal  one,  and  there  were  six  other  surgeons 
besides  myself  attached  to  it.  I  pulled  off  my 
coat,  and  went  to  work  at  once.  The  first  man 
whom  I  tackled  had  walked  down  from  the  field. 
He  had  been  shot  through  the  jaw,  and  was  much 
blanched  from  loss  of  blood.  I  plugged  the  hole 
with  lint,  and  passed  on  to  the  next  unfortunate, 
who  had  been  shot  through  the  liver  by  a  frag- 
ment of  shell.  Part  of  the  liver  was  sticking  out 
through  the  wound,  and  the  man,  who  was  much 
collapsed,  although  quite  conscious  and  in  great 
pain,  formed  a  shocking  spectacle.  He  had  a 
great  tear  in  his  liver.  I  stitched  it  up  and 
washed  the  wound ;  but  the  case  was  a  hopeless 
one.  If  I  could  have  given  him  chloroform, 
thoroughly  opened  him  up,  and  washed  every- 
thing out,  I  might  have  been  able  to  save  him  ; 
but  there  was  no  time  for  that.  He  lingered  on 
in  great  agony,  and  died  on  the  following  day. 

In  dealing  with  gunshot  wounds,  where  the 
variety  is  practically  unlimited  and  no  two  cases 
are  the  same,  the  surgeon  has  to  be  resourceful 
and  inventive.  I  was  here  brought  face  to  face 
with  conditions  which  were  quite  new  to  me,  and 
with  extraordinary  complications,  which  required 


I877-]  EXTRAORDINARY    RECOVERIES.  131 

the  most  delicate  and  careful  operations,  but  which 
had  to  be  dealt  with  out  of  hand  and  in  a  few 
minutes.  Looking  back  now  I  am  filled  with 
wonder  that  so  many  of  our  wounded  recovered, 
considering  the  unfavourable  conditions  under 
which  they  were  treated.  The  third  man  whom 
I  tackled  had  been  struck  in  the  abdomen  by  a 
piece  of  shell,  and  about  one  foot  of  his  intestine 
was  projecting  through  the  wound.  In  that  con- 
dition he  had  been  carried  from  the  hill  where 
he  was  shot,  and,  needless  to  say,  he  was  in  a 
horrible  condition.  I  washed  the  intestine,  en- 
larged the  wound,  again  shifted  the  intestine  back 
into  its  place,  and  stitched  the  wound  up.  In  a 
week  or  two  the  man  recovered,  and  went  back 
to  his  place  in  the  ranks. 

All  day  on  that  terrible  2Oth  of  July  I  worked 
in  the  Bulgarian  schoolhouse  among  the  wounded 
men,  and  all  day  the  arabas  kept  arriving  with 
fresh  loads,  until  there  was  absolutely  no  place 
left  in  which  to  lay  the  sufferers.  In  all  my 
surgical  experience  I  have  never  known  men  to 
exhibit  such  fortitude  under  intense  agony  as 
these  Turkish  soldiers,  nor  have  I  ever  met 
patients  who  recovered  from  such  terrible  injuries 
in  the  remarkable  way  that  these  men  did.  They 
were  magnificent  material  for  a  surgeon  to  work 
on — men  of  splendid  physique,  unimpaired  by 
intemperance  or  any  excesses.  Occasionally  one 
found  isolated  cases  of  intemperance  among  the 


132  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

higher  officers  in  the  Turkish  army ;  but  I  never 
saw  a  private  soldier  under  the  influence  of  liquor 
during  the  whole  time  that  I  was  in  the  country. 
There  were  many  of  these  men  whose  lives  I 
could  have  saved  if  I  could  have  persuaded  them 
to  take  stimulants ;  but  it  was  impossible  to  get 
them  to  touch  alcohol,  even  as  medicine.  The 
principles  of  their  religion  forbid  the  use  of 
alcohol,  and  the  humble  Turk  clings  so  tena- 
ciously to  his  religion  that  he  would  rather  meet 
death  itself  than  violate  its  precepts.  On  account 
of  another  remarkable  religious  prejudice  many 
of  the  men  who  came  under  my  hands  absolutely 
refused  to  submit  to  amputations,  believing  that 
the  loss  of  a  limb  would  prevent  them  from  enter- 
ing paradise.  Owing  to  this  curious  prejudice 
many  of  my  patients  lost  their  lives. 

The  booming  of  the  artillery  was  soon  varied 
by  the  sharp  crackle  of  the  rifles,  which  indicated 
that  the  infantry  fusillade  was  commencing  in 
earnest,  and  men  began  to  come  in  who  were 
wounded  by  the  heavy  conical  bullets  from  the 
Berdan  rifles,  with  which  a  large  proportion  of 
the  Russian  forces  were  armed.  This  rifle  carried 
a  bullet  with  a  very  high  velocity ;  and  several 
cases  came  under  my  notice  which  illustrated 
its  destructive  power.  The  Berdan  rifle-bullet, 
however,  often  drilled  a  clean  hole  right  through 
a  man,  thus  simplifying  the  surgical  treatment ; 
while  the  older  Krenke  rifle,  with  which  the  bulk 


is/?.]  VARIETY    OF    WOUNDS.  133 

of  the  Russians  were  armed,  inflicted  a  much 
larger  wound,  and  not  infrequently  left  the  bullet 
embedded  in  the  body. 

Among  the  others  whom  I  attended  that 
morning  was  a  splendid  young  Turk  who  had 
been  shot  through  the  head.  The  Berdan  conical 
bullet  pierced  the  left  side  of  the  skull  about  an 
inch  and  a  half  below  the  crown,  and  passed  out 
in  a  straight  line  through  the  other  side,  leaving 
two  holes,  one  at  each  side  of  the  fez  which  the 
man  was  wearing.  It  bored  a  hole  clean  through 
the  upper  portion  of  the  brain  ;  but  the  sufferer, 
though  he  was  weak  from  loss  of  blood,  was 
perfectly  rational.  I  put  a  syringe  into  the 
orifice,  and  cleaned  the  lacerated  portion  of  the 
brain  with  a  solution  of  carbolic,  afterwards 
dressing  the  skull  with  an  antiseptic  pad  and 
bandages.  The  man  was  put  into  the  hospital, 
where  he  remained  for  about  six  weeks,  and  at 
the  end  of  that  time  he  was  discharged  cured. 
He  went  back  to  his  regiment,  and  I  never  saw 
him  again. 

In  one  of  the  arabas  which  discharged  its  load 
at  the  hospital  door  was  a  wounded  sergeant. 
The  poor  fellow  had  had  both  his  eyes  taken 
out  by  a  bullet,  and  was  in  great  agony.  We 
took  him  in  and  treated  him,  keeping  him  in  the 
hospital  till  he  recovered.  Some  weeks  after- 
wards we  discharged  him  cured,  but  sightless, 
and  he  went  down  to  Sofia. 


134  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

Many  men  were  shot  right  through  the  chest, 
of  whom  nearly  all  died.  In  cases  where  we  could 
not  readily  locate  the  bullet  we  did  not  waste 
time  looking  for  it,  and  several  men  who  recovered 
from  their  wounds  went  back  to  the  ranks  with 
an  ounce  of  Russian  lead  hidden  somewhere  in 
their  bodies.  Occasionally  a  bullet  would  take 
a  most  erratic  course.  One  man  whom  I  attended 
had  been  shot  in  the  back  of  the  neck,  and  the 
bullet  travelled  along  his  shoulder  and  down 
his  arm  just  under  the  skin.  I  took  it  out  at 
the  wrist. 

A  peculiar  instance  came  under  my  notice  of 
the  extraordinary  vitality  which  a  human  being 
sometimes  displays.  A  couple  of  men  brought 
in  a  young  Circassian  and  laid  him  on  the  floor, 
all  the  beds  in  the  hospital  being  already  occupied. 
He  was  deathly  pale,  and  when  I  went  to  him 
I  found  that  he  had  a  terrible  wound  in  the 
chest.  At  first  I  thought  that  he  had  been  struck 
by  a  whole  shell ;  but  I  found  on  examining  him 
that  a  rifle-bullet  had  struck  his  cartridge  case 
which  was  strapped  across  his  chest,  and  exploded 
one  or  more  of  the  cartridges.  The  explosion 
had  blown  away  a  great  portion  of  the  chest, 
and  exposed  the  heart,  which  I  could  see  beating. 
I  plugged  the  cavity  as  well  as  I  could,  and  he 
lived  for  four  or  five  days  in  the  hospital,  perfectly 
conscious  all  the  while,  and  eager  for  news  of  the 
fighting.  I  think  it  was  on  the  fifth  day  after 


i877.]  HOPELESS   CASES.  135 

his  admission  that  I  was  examining  the  wound, 
when  I  found  the  brass  butt  of  a  cartridge  em- 
bedded in  the  muscles  of  the  heart.  I  pulled 
it  out,  and  dressed  the  wound  again  ;  but  the 
shock  was  too  severe,  and  the  man  died  soon 
afterwards. 

We  had  no  skilled  attendants  attached  to  the 
hospital,  and  no  one  to  do  the  dressing  but  a 
few  soldiers  who  had  been  told  off  for  the 
purpose.  Blood  was  everywhere  ;  and  as  I  went 
my  rounds  as  quickly  as  possible  among  the 
moaning  sufferers,  I  had  an  attendant  carrying 
my  box  of  instruments,  a  basin  of  water,  and  a 
supply  of  bandages  after  me.  On  all  sides  I 
heard  the  piteous  moan,  "  Verbana  su,  effendi," 
"  Verbana  su,  hakim  bashi,"  meaning,  "  Give  me 
a  drink  of  water,  doctor  "  ;  and  fortunately  we 
were  able  at  least  to  assuage  the  intolerable  thirst 
which  afflicts  men  when  the  moisture  of  the  body 
has  been  depleted  by  great  loss  of  blood.  All 
the  cases  which  required  operations  were  put 
aside,  and  left  for  the  following  day,  as  it  was 
necessary,  in  the  hurry  of  endeavouring  to  over- 
take the  work,  to  deal  with  the  larger  number  of 
less  serious  cases  first.  Whenever  I  saw  that  a 
case  was  hopeless,  and  that  the  man  was  sure  to 
die,  I  simply  made  him  as  comfortable  as  I  could 
on  the  floor,  gave  him  a  drink  of  water,  and  left 
him  there. 

I   remained  in  the  hospital  until  three  o'clock 


136  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

in  the  afternoon,  and  during  the  whole  of  that 
time  the  carts  were  jolting  over  the  stones  bring- 
ing us  in  fresh  cases.  I  never  stopped  for  a 
moment  whipping  out  bullets,  sewing  up  wounds, 
cleaning  wounds,  and  putting  up  fractured  limbs 
in  splints.  Sometimes  when  the  carts  came  in  I 
did  not  know  which  of  the  men  were  alive  and 
which  were  dead,  the  living  and  the  dead  were 
lying  so  closely  one  on  the  top  of  the  other. 

At  three  o'clock  Hassib  Bey,  the  principal 
medical  officer,  sent  a  message  for  me,  ordering 
me  to  go  to  another  place  which  had  been  turned 
into  a  temporary  hospital.  It  was  an  isolated 
building,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away  from  the 
schoolhouse,  and  was  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Tutchenitza.  The  building  had  been  a  private 
house,  and  here  I  found  about  a  hundred 
wounded  men,  many  of  them  officers,  who  had 
been  lying  there  helplessly  since  early  in  the 
morning,  with  no  attendance  except  the  small 
services  which  two  jarra  bashis  were  able  to 
afford. 

A  Turkish  colonel  shot  through  both  jaws  was 
my  first  patient.  The  bullet  had  cut  through 
the  base  of  the  tongue,  and  the  poor  fellow  was 
unable  to  speak.  His  mouth  was  wide  open,  and 
blood  was  issuing  from  it.  I  picked  away  the 
broken  pieces  of  bone,  put  a  bandage  round  the 
jaw  to  support  it,  and,  having  made  the  colonel 
as  comfortable  as  I  could,  I  went  on  to  his  brother 


i877«]  NUMBER    OF    KILLED.  137 

officers.  All  the  rest  of  that  day  I  worked  by 
myself,  with  only  the  two  jarra  bashis  to  assist 
me,  among  the  wounded  men,  and  when  it  grew 
dark  I  went  on  with  the  minor  operations  by  the 
light  of  four  candles  stuck  on  bayonets.  At 
eleven  o'clock  that  night  I  dragged  myself  off 
to  bed. 

It  was  a  beautiful  summer  night,  with  moon 
and  stars  shining,  as  I  walked  back  to  my 
quarters  utterly  fagged  out  with  that  tremendous 
day's  work.  A  couple  of  miles  away  to  the  north 
I  could  see  the  long  ridge  of  the  Janik  Bair 
shining  in  the  moonlight.  More  than  a  thousand 
Turks  and  more  than  one  thousand  two  hundred 
Russians  lay  stretched  on  the  other  side  of  the 
hill,  and  along  the  line  of  the  fighting  from 
Bukova  on  the  left  to  Grivitza  on  the  right.*  All 
was  silent  now,  but  the  hills  were  not  deserted 
yet,  for  the  burial  parties  were  hard  at  work, 
and  the  Circassians,  ever  on  the  look  out 
for  plunder,  were  gathering  in  the  dreadful 
harvest  of  the  battle-field. 

*  No  statistics  of  Turkish  casualties,  other  than  the  above,  were 
ever  published.  The  Russian  figures  far  exceed  those  in  the 
text.  The  Russian  losses,  according  to  official  enumeration, 
were  22  officers  killed  and  52  wounded,  and  2,771  men  killed  and 
wounded  ;  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  officers  and  over  one-third  of 
the  men  were  therefore  hors  de  combat.  Of  the  three  colonels 
commanding  regiments  two  were  killed  ;  a  general  commanding 
a  brigade  was  wounded ;  of  the  six  field  officers  present  with 
the  iQth  regiment  two  were  killed  and  two  wounded.  Schilder- 
Schuldner's  force  consisted  of  6,500  men  and  46  guns. 


138  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

I  slept  soundly  till  six  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  then  went  back  to  the  house  where  the 
wounded  officers  had  been  brought.  There  were 
about  a  hundred  wounded  men  there  altogether  ; 
and  as  we  had  no  beds  to  put  them  in,  we  had 
to  lay  them  on  the  floor  pillowed  on  their  own 
great-coats.  There  were  plenty  of  provisions  in 
the  town,  and  I  had  supplies  of  broth,  beef-tea,  and 
milk  brought  up  for  the  patients  from  the  central 
depot.  Still,  in  spite  of  everything  that  we  could 
do,  it  was  an  experience  never  to  be  forgotten. 
As  one  moved  amongst  them  one  heard  piteous 
moans  on  every  side,  coming  from  forms  which 
in  some  cases  could  scarcely  be  recognized  as 
human,  so  terribly  had  the  shrapnel  done  its 
work.  Those  who  believed  that  they  were  dying 
were  saying  their  prayers  out  loud,  calling  upon 
Allah  to  receive  them  into  paradise ;  and  here 
and  there  an  officer  in  the  delirium  of  fever  was 
fighting  the  battle  over  again,  sitting  up  in  his 
blood-clotted,  shot-riddled  uniform,  and  calling 
upon  his  men  to  follow  him,  until  he  fell  back 
breathless  and  exhausted.  A  good  many  of 
them  had  died  in  the  night  while  I  was  away, 
and  I  told  off  a  couple  of  men  to  bury  them 
at  once. 

While  I  was  going  round  the  house,  I  found 
that  we  had  two  young  Russian  soldiers  there 
among  our  own  people,  and  I  gave  them  as  much 
attention  as  I  could.  One  was  a  fair-haired 


I877-]  THE    SHAMBLES    IN    THE    MOSQUE.  139 

young  fellow,  quite  a  lad.  His  case  was  hopeless 
from  the  first,  for  he  had  been  shot  through  the 
lungs,  and  he  died  that  day  without  being  able  to 
leave  any  message.  The  other  had  his  leg  from 
the  knee  downwards  shattered  by  a  shell,  and  he 
lived  for  about  a  fortnight. 

Osman  Pasha  had  made  arrangements  to  send 
all  the  wounded  away  to  Sofia,  and  nearly  all  of 
those  whom  I  attended  were  placed  in  waggons 
and  sent  down  via  Orkhanieh.  Many  of  them, 
however,  as  might  be  expected,  died  on  the  way, 
and  the  road  could  have  easily  been  traced  by 
the  dead  bodies. 

I  requisitioned  some  beds  for  my  hospital ;  and 
when  I  had  got  all  the  wounded  men  dressed  and 
fed,  I  thought  that  my  day's  work  was  finished. 
Just  as  I  was  going  out  for  a  short  rest,  however, 
an  orderly  came  and  told  me  that  a  number  of 
wounded  men  were  lying  in  a  Turkish  mosque 
without  any  help  at  all,  and  asked  me  to  go  to 
them.  I  found  a  most  beautiful  little  mosque 
nestling  down  in  a  grove  of  trees  on  a  slope  of 
ground  to  the  west  side  of  the  Tutchenitza, 
and,  mounting  the  half-dozen  steps  which  formed 
the  approach  to  the  main  entrance,  I  looked 
inside. 

It  was  indeed  a  hideous  sight.  The  square 
floor  of  the  mosque  was  covered  with  dead  and 
wounded  men,  who  had  been  placed  there  on 
the  day  before,  and  apparently  forgotten.  There 


I4O  THE    FIRST    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

were  about  eighty  of  them  altogether,  and  the 
first  thing  that  we  had  to  do  was  to  separate 
the  living  from  the  dead,  which  was  not  an 
easy  task,  as  the  dead  were  lying  across  the 
living  and  the  living  across  the  dead.  We  took 
out  twenty-seven  dead  men  first,  and  found  that 
in  some  cases  a  man  with  faint  signs  of  life  in 
him  had  been  lying  all  night,  half  suffocated  by 
his  own  blood  and  by  the  inert  mass  of  a  dead 
comrade  lying  across  him.  The  walls,  which 
were  whitewashed,  were  plentifully  bespattered 
with  blood,  and  soon  I  was  a  shocking  spectacle 
myself. 

I  put  on  a  soldier  to  go  round  with  a  bucket 
and  pannikin  to  assauge  the  fiery  thirst  of  the 
poor  wretches,  and  then  I  set  to  work  extracting 
bullets  and  sewing  up  wounds  and  washing 
them  as  fast  as  I  could,  with  a  soldier  to  help 
in  the  dressing.  I  undertook  no  big  opera- 
tions simply  because  I  had  not  time.  It  was 
a  race  for  life  with  many  of  the  men  ;  and  while 
there  were  cases  there  which  would  have  required 
at  least  an  hour  to  deal  with  properly,  the  most 
that  I  could  spare  was  ten  minutes. 

By  July  22  all  the  wounded  that  could 
travel  had  been  sent  to  Sofia,  and  we  had 
about  two  hundred  of  the  graver  cases  left, 
most  of  them  being  cases  requiring  serious 
operations.  We  selected  a  convenient  building 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tutchenitza,  right  under 


1877- ]  THE    MUEZZIN. 

the  shadow  of  a  mosque,  and  there  we  set  up 
operating  tables  under  the  trees  in  the  open 
air.  It  was  strange  every  day  to  see  a  flock 
of  white  doves  circling  round  the  minaret  of 
the  mosque,  and  every  evening  at  sunset  to 
watch  the  old  Mussulman  priest  as  he  climbed 
the  tower  and  solemnly  invited  the  faithful  to 
prayer. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE     INTERVAL    BETWEEN    THE    FIRST    AND    SECOND 
BATTLES. 

Sending  away  the  Wounded — Osman  Effendi — We  perform  Opera- 
tions— Amputating  Fingers — A  Warning  to  Malingerers — 
Trial  and  Execution — Discipline  in  the  Town — Round  the 
Bazaars  after  the  Battle — Some  Pathetic  Souvenirs — The 
Punishment  of  Looters — Circassian  and  Bulgarian — A  Cold- 
blooded Murder — The  Work  of  Fortification — Out  with  the 
Burial  Parties— A  Walk  over  the  Battle-field— Fresh  Rein- 
forcements arrive — The  Lovtcha  Expedition — Rifaat  Pasha's 
Success — My  Quarters  near  the  Hospital — I  have  a  Flitting — 
Arrival  of  Olivier  Pain — A  Pretty  Bulgarian  Girl — Limitations 
of  a  Vocabulary — Hospital  Routine — Soldier  Nurses. 

WE  sent  away  about  eight  hundred  of  the 
wounded  to  Sofia  within  a  few  days  after  the  first 
battle  ;  and  of  those  who  remained  behind  many 
died,  and  the  remainder  resolved  themselves  into 
cases  for  simple  operations.  Amputation  of  the 
arm  or  leg  was  necessary  in  many  instances,  and 
whenever  the  sufferer  would  permit  it  this  was 
carried  out.  With  the  large  medical  staff  attached 
to  the  army,  the  work  ought  to  have  been  very 
easy  ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  many  of  the  surgeons 
could  not  or  would  not  undertake  any  important 

operation,  and   in  the  few  instances  when  they 

142 


I877-]  OSMAN    EFFENDI.  143 

did  muster  up  courage  to  lop  off  an  arm  or  a 
limb  the  spectacle  was  not  an  edifying  one. 
Almost  all  the  operations  were  performed  either 
by  Osman  Effendi,  a  Circassian,  who  was  a  really 
brilliant  surgeon  and  a  capable  anatomist  who 
had  learnt  his  profession  in  Paris,  or  by  myself. 
Both  of  us  were  very  young  and  inexperienced  ; 
but  in  spite  of  these  drawbacks  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  we  saved  many  lives  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  lost.  The  foreign  doctors 
seemed  to  lose  their  heads  in  an  emergency ; 
and  it  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  Osman 
Effendi  or  myself  to  find  some  poor  unfortunate 
wretch,  who  had  been  smashed  up  by  a  shell  or 
drilled  through  by  a  Berdan  bullet,  absolutely 
rotting  away  in  a  hospital  ward  simply  because 
the  surgeon  in  charge  would  not  operate.  When- 
ever we  made  a  discovery  of  this  kind,  we  used 
to  bring  the  patient  out  to  the  operating  table 
under  the  willow  tree,  and  do  the  best  we  could 
for  him  under  the  circumstances  ;  but  it  cannot 
be  denied  that,  owing  to  our  lack  of  experience, 
we  often  made  serious  mistakes.  I  will  candidly 
confess  that  if  I  had  possessed  my  present 
knowledge  at  that  time,  and  if  I  had  had  com- 
mand of  all  the  best  appliances,  I  could  have 
saved  many  lives  which  unfortunately  flickered 
out  in  that  shady  little  grove  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tutchenitza. 

In  addition  to  the  grave  cases  which  involved 


144    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

the  removal  of  an  arm  or  leg,  we  had  a  large 
number  of  minor  injuries  to  attend  to,  especially 
wounds  in  the  hand,  which  were  remarkably 
frequent.  When  the  troops  were  in  the  act  of 
firing,  their  fingers  and  hands  were  naturally  ex- 
posed ;  and  though  later  on,  when  the  firing  was 
mainly  done  from  behind  entrenchments,  finger 
wounds  became  far  more  frequent,  still  we  had  a 
good  many  of  them  even  after  the  first  battle. 

A  splendid  lesson  in  stoical  fortitude  was 
afforded  by  those  fellows,  who  tendered  their 
maimed  hands  for  operation  without  the  slightest 
flinching.  The  stump  of  a  willow  tree  which  had 
been  cut  down  stood  near  the  bank  of  the  stream, 
and  here  I  was  accustomed  to  take  my  seat,  after 
providing  myself  with  a  basin  of  water  from  the 
stream  and  a  sharp  knife.  I  put  a  little  carbolic 
in  the  water,  and  with  these  simple  preparations 
I  was  ready  for  my  patients,  who  sat  cross-legged 
in  a  row  close  by  me.  There  was  no  admini- 
stration of  chloroform  by  a  skilled  anaesthetist, 
no  careful  dressing  of  the  injury  by  a  white- 
aproned  nurse,  none  of  the  usual  accessories  of 
the  ordinary  hospital  ;  for  my  operating  theatre 
had  a  carpet  of  greensward  starred  with  wild 
flowers,  and  its  ceiling  was  the  deep  blue  sky  of 
midsummer.  Instead  of  the  rows  of  students 
who  usually  grace  these  scientific  ceremonies, 
scores  of  the  snow-white  doves  that  are  considered 
sacred  throughout  Turkey  paused  now  and  then 


i877- ]  A    WARNING    TO    MALINGERERS.  145 

in  their  cooings,  as  they  fluttered  round  the 
minarets  of  the  ancient  mosque  above  the  willow 
grove  and  looked  down  upon  the  strange  scene 
below  them.  The  wounded  soldiers  took  their 
turns  each  in  his  proper  order  ;  and  as  I  sat  on  the 
willow  stump  a  man  with  a  thumb  or  finger,  as 
the  case  might  be,  mangled  into  a  shocking  pulp 
of  festering  flesh,  would  hold  up  his  injured  hand 
to  me  as  he  sat  on  the  grass  at  my  feet,  and 
would  look  on  without  flinching  while  I  cut  away 
the  rotting  flesh,  trimmed  up  the  place,  and 
washed  and  dressed  the  bleeding  stump  that  still 
remained.  I  did  over  a  dozen  of  these  cases 
in  one  morning  ;  and  later  in  the  campaign, 
when  the  fighting  in  the  redoubts  began,  I  have 
amputated  as  many  as  twenty-seven  fingers  in 
succession. 

One  result  of  the  frequency  of  these  finger 
wounds  was  that  they  formed  a  convenient  pretext 
for  escaping  service  in  the  ranks ;  and  though 
the  Turkish  soldiers  were  too  brave  to  think 
of  malingering,  there  was  one  Arab  regiment  in 
which  the  offence  became  very  common.  This 
was  the  regiment  which  had  already  shown  the 
white  feather  during  the  battle,  and  which  was 
only  induced  to  hold  its  ground  by  the  threat  of 
Osman  Pasha  that  unless  the  men  stood  firm 
he  would  himself  open  fire  on  them  from  head- 
quarters, and  catch  them  between  the  Russian 
fusillade  and  the  fire  of  their  own  side.  Compelled 

10 


146    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

by  this  unpleasant  prospect,  the  regiment  rallied, 
and  afterwards  gave  a  good  account  of  itself ;  but, 
as  might  be  supposed,  the  men  were  not  in  love 
with  fighting,  and  many  of  them  hit  on  the  device 
of  deliberately  blowing  off  the  trigger-finger  so 
as  to  be  unfit  for  further  service.  We  had  a 
good  many  of  them  to  treat,  and  at  last  Osman 
Pasha  got  to  hear  of  it,  and  of  course  was  very 
savage  at  the  malingering.  He  at  once  issued  an 
order  that  the  next  man  found  guilty  of  maiming 
himself  in  this  way  would  be  instantly  shot,  and 
the  threat,  as  it  turned  out,  was  no  idle  one. 

One  morning,  just  as  I  finished  my  round  in 
the  hospital,  I  was  summoned  by  an  orderly  to 
attend  Tewfik  Bey,  and  when  I  reached  his 
tent  I  found  three  men  from  the  Arab  regiment 
standing  there  under  a  strong  guard.  Their 
arms  had  been  taken  from  them,  and  each  man 
had  a  hole  through  the  index-finger  of  the  right 
hand.  Tewfik  Bey  desired  me  to  decide  whether 
the  appearance  of  the  injuries  indicated  that  they 
had  been  self-inflicted  ;  and  when  I  learnt  from 
him  that  if  I  answered  in  the  affirmative  the 
men  would  be  instantly  shot,  I  declined  to  take 
the  responsibility,  and  requested  that  a  small 
medical  board  might  be  appointed  to  deal  with 
the  matter.  Tewfik  assented,  and  invited  me 
into  his  tent  to  wait  while  an  orderly  fetched 
two  other  surgeons.  Presently  Weinberger  and 
Kustler  arrived,  and  we  three,  after  inspecting 


1877.]  DISCIPLINE    IN    THE    TOWN.  147 

the  prisoners,  retired  to  a  little  distance  to  con- 
sult. There  could  be  no  doubt  whatever  about 
the  fact,  for  the  mutilated  finger  in  each  case 
was  blackened  with  gunpowder,  showing  that  the 
man  had  placed  his  finger  on  the  top  of  his 
rifle-barrel  and  pulled  the  trigger,  probably  with 
a  piece  of  string.  The  three  men  watched  us  as 
we  sat  at  a  little  table  under  a  tree  and  drew 
up  a  short  report  confirming  that  the  injuries 
were  self-inflicted.  I  presented  the  report  to 
Tewfik,  who  was  smoking  a  cigarette  noncha 
lantly  in  front  of  his  tent ;  and  as  soon  as  he 
had  read  it,  he  ordered  out  three  firing  parties 
of  twelve  men  each,  six  of  each  squad  having 
their  rifles  loaded  with  ball,  and  six  with  blank 
cartridge.  A  sergeant  stepped  up  and  bandaged 
the  eyes  of  the  culprits,  who  were  placed  on 
their  knees  in  a  row  a  few  yards  distant  from 
each  other.  A  few  moments  were  granted  to 
them  to  say  their  prayers,  then  a  naked  sword- 
blade  flashed  in  the  sunlight,  a  quick  word  of 
command  rang  out,  a  volley  startled  the  camp, 
and  the  victims  fell  dead  riddled  with  bullets. 
It  was  a  sharp  remedy,  but  a  sure  one,  and  after 
that  we  had  no  more  malingerers. 

Osman  Pasha  was  a  strict  disciplinarian,  and 
the  splendid  order  which  he  maintained  in  Plevna 
all  through  the  campaign  was  really  remarkable. 
At  first  the  Bulgarian  shop-keepers  wanted  to 
close  their  shops ;  but  the  commander-in-chief 


148    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

compelled  them  to  keep  them  open,  promising 
that  any  attempt  at  looting  by  the  soldiery  would 
be  promptly  and  severely  punished,  A  military 
police  force  was  organized  for  the  protection  of 
the  townspeople,  and  the  soldiery  were  given  to 
understand  that  any  excesses  would  be  visited 
by  the  only  penalty  known  to  the  martial  code 
in  war-time — the  penalty  of  death.  Owing  to  this 
decisive  action,  the  Bulgarian  population  regained 
confidence,  and  carried  on  their  respective 
businesses  without  let  or  hindrance.  For  several 
days,  indeed,  after  the  first  battle  the  spoils  of 
war  stripped  from  the  dead  Russians  on  the  field 
of  action  by  the  roving  and  predatory  Circassians 
were  on  sale  in  every  bazaar.  One  could  buy 
good  Russian  great-coats  for  a  few  piastres,  while 
boots,  caps,  and  arms  all  had  a  ready  sale.  A 
large  number  of  crosses  in  bronze,  silver,  or  gold 
were  taken  from  the  dead  Russians,  and  exposed 
for  sale  in  the  bazaars.  It  was  strange  to  go 
shopping  in  the  narrow,  malodorous  Plevna  by- 
streets, and  watch  the  chaffering  that  was  going 
on  over  the  poor  small  personal  effects  of  the 
brave  fellows  who  lay  out  yonder  on  the  slopes 
of  the  Janik  Bair.  Many  of  the  Russians  had 
gone  into  action  with  the  photographs  of  their 
wives  or  sweethearts  in  little  leather  cases,  which 
they  carried  in  an  inside  pocket  next  to  the 
heart ;  and  the  Circassians,  prowling  round  the 
field  on  the  first  night  after  the  battle,  robbed 


i877-]  PATHETIC    SOUVENIRS.  149 

the  corpses  of  these  simple  treasures,  and  bandied 
them  from  hand  to  hand  with  brutal  jests  round 
the  bazaars  next  day. 

The  simple  faith  which  is  such  a  dominant 
feature  in  the  Russian  national  character  was 
strikingly  exemplified  in  some  of  the  articles 
found  upon  the  dead  bodies.  I  saw  a  Circassian 
offering  for  sale  a  little  painting  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  and  the  infant  Jesus,  which  he  had  taken, 
according  to  his  own  statement,  from  the  body 
of  a  dead  Russian,  a  mere  fair-haired  lad,  who 
had  been  killed  by  a  bayonet  thrust  in  the  hand- 
to-hand  fighting.  The  painting  was  done  on 
a  wooden  plaque  about  one  foot  long  by  six 
inches  wide,  and  was  evidently  of  great  age, 
probably  at  least  two  hundred  years  old,  from  its 
appearance.  It  was  found  beneath  the  tunic  of 
the  dead  boy,  and  was  perhaps  a  family  treasure 
given  to  him  by  his  mother  before  he  went  away 
to  the  war.  There  is  at  least  no  doubt  that  it 
was  worn  as  a  charm  against  danger.  But  the 
simple  faith  of  the  Russian  mother  could  not 
save  her  son  in  the  grim  reality  of  battle,  and 
the  steel  of  the  infidel  Turk  pierced  the  sacred 
figure  of  the  Virgin  before  it  reached  the  soldier's 
heart. 

Many  of  the  Russians  wore  steel  plates  covered 
with  chamois  leather  over  the  region  of  the 
heart.  These  plates  would  stop  a  rifle-bullet  in 
those  days,  although  the  ball  from  a  more  modern 


I5O    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

Lee-Metford,  Lebel,  or  Mauser  rifle  would  have 
pierced  them  like  tinder. 

No  scruples  were  shown  in  appropriating  the 
valuables  of  the  enemy ;  and  the  Jews  in  Plevna 
made  a  handsome  profit  by  buying  Russian 
roubles  for  a  few  piastres  apiece  from  the 
Circassians  and  Bashi-Bazouks  who  had  gone 
through  the  pockets  of  the  dead,  and  by  taking 
the  foreign  coin  away  to  the  ordinary  markets  of 
exchange. 

I  bought  a  Russian  signet  ring  in  the  bazaar 
one  morning  from  a  Circassian.  It  lies  before 
me  on  the  table  now,  and  brings  back  vivid 
memories.  It  is  a  heavy  gold  ring,  with  a  large 
red  stone  like  a  cornelian,  carved  with  the  figure 
of  ^Esculapius,  easily  recognizable  from  the  tradi- 
tional accessories  of  the  snakes  and  the  cock.  It 
was  surely  a  curious  coincidence  that  the  figure 
of  this  legendary  founder  of  medical  science 
should  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  one  of  his 
own  disciples  ! 

Of  course  Osman  Pasha  strongly  discoun- 
tenanced this  looting  of  the  dead;  but  it  was 
impossible  to  control  the  predatory  instincts  of  the 
Circassians,  and  in  spite  of  the  prospect  of  instant 
death  if  detected  they  continued  to  prowl  round 
the  battle-field  in  search  of  treasures.  One  night 
five  of  them  were  taken  red-handed,  and  hanged 
at  daybreak  pour  encourager  les  autres ;  but 
Osman  Pasha's  attention  was  so  much  taken 


i877-]  CIRCASSIAN    V.    BULGARIAN.  151 

up  with  the  necessary  work  of  fortification,  that 
the  looting  went  on  afterwards  just  the  same. 

To  show,  however,  that  the  Muchir,  far  from 
oppressing  the  Bulgarian  inhabitants  in  the  manner 
imputed  to  him  by  contemporary  press  writers, 
was  always  throughout  the  siege  absolutely  fair 
towards  them,  one  significant  incident  may  be 
mentioned  for  which  I  can  vouch,  as  I  was  myself 
a  witness  of  it.  One  morning,  while  I  was  passing 
by  the  yard  of  a  Bulgarian  butcher,  I  found  an 
altercation  going  on  between  the  Bulgarian  and 
a  free-lance  from  one  of  the  Circassian  irregular 
bodies.  Although  I  could  not  understand  what 
was  said,  I  was  able  to  gather  that  the  Circassian 
wanted  some  meat,  which  the  Bulgarian  would 
not  give  him.  After  a  minute  or  two  of  heated 
argument,  the  Circassian  drew  his  revolver  and 
shot  the  Bulgarian  in  my  presence,  the  bullet 
entering  the  man's  foot.  I  reported  the  matter 
to  Osman  Pasha  personally,  and  he  ordered  the 
instant  arrest  of  the  Circassian ;  but  the  man 
was  never  seen  again.  Recognizing  that  death 
would  be  the  penalty  of  his  act  if  he  were 
discovered,  he  escaped  from  Plevna  that  night, 
and  we  saw  no  more  of  him.  The  butcher  died 
from  his  wound. 

There  was  plenty  of  work  for  the  men  of  all 
ranks  to  do  between  the  2Oth  of  July  and  the 
30th.  We  never  knew  when  another  attack  might 
be  launched ;  and  though  the  Russians  had  dis- 


152    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

appeared  from  sight,  our  scouts  used  occasionally 
to  bring  in  word  that  they  had  seen  detachments 
as  near  as  five  miles  off.     Our  men  were  work- 
ing away  as    busily  as    bees  fortifying   outposts, 
digging    entrenchments,    and    building   redoubts 
on    the    cordon  of  hills   that  formed    the  natural 
rampart  of  the  town.     They  also  had  to  complete 
the  work  of  burying  the  dead,  and  as  the  Russians 
had   left   us  all   their   dead  to   inter  as    well   as 
our   own  this  was  no  light  task.     When  I    had 
finished   my   morning's  work    in   the   hospital,  I 
used  to  call  on  Dr.  Robert  and  borrow  one   of 
his    smart   little   black    cobs   for   a   ride    out   to 
the  hills   to   see   how  our  fellows  were   getting 
on    with    their    labours.       I     often    watched   the 
burial    squads    at   work,    as    I   sat   there  on    the 
black    cob    puffing   a   cigarette     in    the  glorious 
summer   weather,    and   saw   them    dragging   the 
scattered  bodies  together  into  a  little  heap,  and 
then   digging   a   trench   to   hold  them.       Some- 
times they  would  put  twenty  or  thirty  into  one 
trench   when    they  came  on  a   patch  where  the 
troops  had  fallen  thickly,  and  sometimes  a  dead 
soldier  lying  far  away  from  his  comrades  would 
be   buried   in   a  lonely  grave  by  himself.     The 
Russian   and    Turkish    dead   were    always    kept 
distinct,    for  the   Moslem  will  not  sleep  by  the 
Giaour,  even  in  the  grave. 

As   I    rode  over  the  crest  of  the  hills  four  or 
five    days   after    the    battle,    and   down    to   the 


i877].  OUT    WITH    THE    BURIAL    PARTIES.  153 

hollow  where  the  Russian  lines  received  the 
hottest  of  the  Turkish  fire,  I  saw  that  in  most 
cases  the  Russian  dead  had  not  been  buried 
deep  enough ;  now  and  then,  indeed,  scarcely 
more  than  the  three  handfuls  of  dust  prescribed 
by  the  old  poet  had  been  thrown  over  the 
corpse,  which  protested  with  a  faint,  sickly  odour 
at  these  maimed  funeral  rites. 

In  one  little  hollow  I  saw  some  locks  of 
curly  fair  hair  sticking  up  from  the  ground,  and, 
scraping  the  earth  away  with  my  sword-blade, 
found  a  dead  Russian  there.  In  many  places 
a  foot,  a  finger,  or  a  hand  protruding  from  the 
ground  revealed  the  presence  of  the  dead ; 
and  as  I  advanced  farther  down  into  the  valley 
from  the  Turkish  line  of  defence,  I  came  across  a 
great  number  of  bodies  which  had  escaped  the 
notice  of  the  burial  parties  altogether.  There 
they  lay,  with  the  hot  July  sun  beating  down 
upon  them,  and  the  cool  moisture  of  the  earth 
teeming  with  horrible  living  things  beneath 
them.  The  faces  of  many  of  the  Russians,  as 
is  often  the  case  when  death  is  due  to  gunshot 
wounds,  were  placid  and  composed  ;  while  the 
skin,  tanned  to  the  consistency  of  parchment 
by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  showed  as  yet  no  sign 
of  putrefaction.  With  others  death  had  come 
with  such  instantaneous  force  that  the  expression 
of  the  face  still  reflected  the  tumultuous  passions 
that  chased  each  other  through  the  brain  of  the 


154    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

living  man  in  the  supreme  hour  of  battle.  One 
could  see,  to  quote  the  vivid  words  of  the  soldier's 
poet, 

Anger  and  pain  and  terror 

Stamped  on  the  smoke-scorched  skin. 

But  while  the  part  of  the  body  exposed  to  the 
action  of  the  sunlight  was  preserved  in  a  mummi- 
fied condition,  the  lower  part,  which  rested  on 
the  earth,  had  already  undergone  the  first  stage 
of  decomposition.  Any  one  who  has  ever  turned 
over  a  great  stone  embedded  in  a  bank  of  mossy 
earth,  and  seen  the  swarms  of  noxious  living 
creatures  battening  on  the  underneath  side,  will 
recognize  without  further  description  the  sight 
that  met  my  eyes  as  I  prised  over  a  dead  body 
here  and  there  with  my  scabbard  to  ascertain 
its  condition. 

After  the  battle  fresh  troops  kept  pouring  into 
Plevna  from  Sofia,  and  it  soon  became  evident 
that  Osman  Pasha  did  not  intend  to  content 
himself  by  remaining  in  the  town  purely  on  the 
defensive. 

Lovtcha,  as  we  knew,  had  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  the  Russians  before  we  reached  Plevna,  having 
been  occupied  by  General  Sobatoff  on  July  16  ; 
and  Osman  Pasha,  having  had  time  to  look 
about  him,  determined  to  recapture  that  town.  Its 
importance  from  the  strategical  point  of  view  was 
obvious,  inasmuch  as  it  commanded  the  main 
road  to  Sofia,  from  which  our  reinforcements  were 


i877.]  THE    LOVTCHA    EXPEDITION.  155 

to  come.  The  possession  of  the  town  was  also 
indispensable  to  Osman  Pasha  in  order  to  cover 
the  operations  of  the  Plevna  army,  and  to 
complete  his  front  line  of  defence,  which  should 
serve  him  as  a  base  of  operations  whenever  the 
moment  might  prove  propitious  for  assuming 
the  offensive. 

The  town  of  Lovtcha  lies  in  the  valley  of 
the  river  Osma,  about  twenty  miles  trom  Plevna, 
and  twelve  miles  from  the  Trojan  Pass.  Roughly 
speaking,  the  river  divides  the  town  into  two 
parts,  one  of  which  was  inhabited  by  the 
Mussulman  population,  and  the  other  by  the 
Bulgarians.  Before  the  war  the  great  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  were  Mussulmans,  who  num- 
bered about  twelve  thousand  ;  and  Lovtcha  was 
then  one  of  the  richest  towns  in  Bulgaria,  boast- 
ing no  fewer  than  twenty  mosques,  three 
orthodox  churches,  ten  primary  Moslem  schools, 
and  many  schools  for  Christians.  It  was  placed 
at  the  junction  of  several  main  roads,  and  its 
position  rendered  it  therefore  important  both  to 
the  invaders  and  the  invaded.  SobatofF  had 
occupied  it  with  a  column  composed  of  the  second 
squadron  of  Cossacks  of  the  Guard,  two  squadrons 
of  Don  Cossacks,  and  two  field-pieces  with  a 
detachment  of  infantry. 

As  soon  as  the  fight  of  July  20  was  won, 
Osman  Pasha  made  all  his  preparations  for 
recapturing  Lovtcha  by  a  surprise.  He  first 


156    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

reconnoitred  the  position  with  a  detachment  of 
cavalry,  and  then,  taking  six  infantry  battalions, 
a  battery  of  field  artillery,  and  a  troop  of  Cir- 
cassian light  horse  from  the  reinforcements  which 
had  arrived  from  Sofia,  he  formed  a  column, 
the  command  of  which  he  entrusted  to  Brigadier 
Rifaat  Pasha,  who  had  Tewfik  Bey  as  his  next 
in  command.  The  column  marched  from  Plevna 
at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  July  25,  and 
arrived  at  daybreak  before  Lovtcha.  An  attack 
was  immediately  delivered  on  the  town,  which 
was  defended  by  three  or  four  squadrons  of 
Cossacks  and  a  large  number  of  Bulgarians  who 
had  been  armed  by  the  Russians.  Only  the 
merest  semblance  of  resistance,  however,  was 
offered  by  the  enemy,  and  Rifaat  Pasha's  column 
occupied  the  town  almost  without  striking  a  blow. 
Thus  within  the  space  of  a  week  the  Russian 
arms  had  sustained  two  serious  reverses,  and  the 
Russian  commanders  were  evidently  preparing 
an  attempt  to  rehabilitate  their  prestige.  Avoid- 
ing any  serious  engagement,  and  only  showing 
themselves  at  great  distances,  they  confined 
themselves  to  long-range  artillery  practice  while 
they  concentrated  their  forces.  Meanwhile  the 
Turkish  army  was  strengthened  by  additional 
reinforcements  of  regular  troops  and  of  auxiliary 
cavalry.  The  only  other  event  of  importance 
between  the  first  and  second  battles  of  Plevna 
was  the  recapture  of  the  village  of  Trestenik, 


i877.]  MY    QUARTERS    AND    HOSPITAL.  157 

situated  about  ten  miles  from  Plevna,  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Vid.  This  village  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  Russians ;  but  Hassan  Labri 
Pasha  and  Mehemet  Nazif  Bey,  with  a  few 
battalions  of  infantry,  a  couple  of  field-guns,  and 
a  troop  of  Circassian  horse,  retook  the  village 
on  July  25,  and  drove  out  the  Russians,  who 
retreated  towards  their  main  body. 

While  these  stirring  events,  which  can  be 
described  in  a  few  words,  but  the  success  of 
which  was  of  vital  importance  to  Osman  Pasha's 
plan  of  operations,  were  taking  place  outside 
Plevna,  I  remained  on  duty  at  my  hospital  in 
the  town,  hearing  only  at  times  the  faint  echoes 
of  artillery  in  the  distance  to  remind  me  that 
fighting  was  still  going  on. 

Although  hastily  organized  and  furnished  with 
few  of  the  articles  which  are  deemed  necessary 
to  the  equipment  of  civil  hospitals,  our  hospitals 
were  fairly  efficient  at  the  commencement  of  the 
campaign  before  our  resources  became  overtaxed. 
Hassib  Bey,  the  principal  medical  officer,  was  a 
capital  organizer  and  administrator ;  and  although 
he  never  interfered  in  the  actual  surgical  work, 
he  was  always  ready  to  listen  to  suggestions 
and  to  furnish  us  with  any  necessaries  that  we 
asked  for. 

During  the  early  part  of  my  stay  in  Plevna,  I 
had  my  quarters  in  a  small  Bulgarian  house 
which  was  nearly  a  mile  away  from  the  general 


158    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

hospital,  so  far,  indeed,  that  I  afterwards  moved 
into  a  more  convenient  spot,  and  my  little  house 
was  given  over  to  the  French  journalist  Olivier 
Pain.  My  first  landlord — who  was  landlord  in 
name  only,  for ,  of  course  I  never  paid  him  any 
rent — was  a  Bulgarian,  and  his  daughter  was  one 
of  the  few  pretty  women  that  I  ever  saw  in 
Bulgaria.  Conversation,  however,  was  restricted 
by  linguistic  limitations,  for  I  knew  scarcely  any 
Bulgarian,  and  the  only  word  of  English  that  she 
could  say  was  "  London."  Wherever  I  saw 
that  girl,  she  would  show  her  white  teeth  with  a 
charming  smile,  flash  her  big  black  eyes,  and 
with  beautiful  irrelevance  ejaculate  "  London  !  " 
Whether  she  knew  what  London  meant  I  cannot 
say,  but  her  limited  vocabulary  expressed  more 
in  its  way  than  the  gushing  phrases  of  many 
more  brilliant  conversationalists.  When  she  said 
4 'London"  with  a  bright  air  of  welcome  and  a 
frank  smile  as  I  came  home  at  night  tired  out 
with  the  day's  work,  I  knew  that  she  meant, 
"  Good  evening,  doctor;  I  hope  you  haven't  had 
a  very  bad  day  to-day ;  and  see,  here  is  your  pilaf 
and  coffee  ready."  When  she  uttered  the  word 
with  a  backward  turn  of  the  head  as  she  passed 
out  of  the  door  and  a  pretty  coquettish  glance,  it 
was  very  evident  that  she  was  really  saying, 
"Good  night  now,  doctor;  pleasant  dreams  to 
you,  and  I  hope  a  Russian  shell  won't  find  you 
in  the  morning."  My  domestic  arrangements, 


i877-]  HOSPITAL    ROUTINE.  159 

however,  which  were  very  primitive  and  did  not 
include  much  preparation  of  eatables,  were 
mainly  attended  to  by  my  Circassian  servant, 
who  proved  himself  to  be  a  very  handy  fellow. 
Hassib  Bey  instituted  the  excellent  plan  of 
getting  all  the  medical  staff  to  meet  at  nine 
o'clock  every  morning  at  the  administrative  block, 
where  the  main  hospital  was  placed ;  and  after 
breakfasting  on  coffee,  pilaf,  and  eggs  when  I  could 
get  them,  I  used  to  ride  up  to  the  rendezvous. 
Hassib  Bey  and  Reif  Bey,  his  next  in  command, 
used  to  meet  us  all  there,  and  the  whole  lot  of  us 
used  to  have  a  smoke  together  for  half  an  hour  or 
so,  and  discuss  any  interesting  cases  that  we  had 
to  deal  with.  If  we  had  any  complaint  to  make 
about  the  food  supplied  to  the  hospitals,  or  if  we 
wanted  anything  extra  in  the  way  of  appliances, 
our  representations  were  listened  to  on  the  spot. 
It  was  a  capital  idea,  and  worked  very  well 
indeed. 

After  the  first  rush  of  work  was  over,  I  had 
my  own  hospital  to  attend  to.  This  was  a  two- 
story  Bulgarian  house,  the  ground  floor  of  which 
was  unoccupied,  while  upstairs  there  were  three 
large  rooms,  in  which  I  had  about  twenty-five 
patients.  Beds  and  blankets  were  provided,  and 
I  was  able  to  make  the  sufferers  fairly  comfort- 
able. Two  Turkish  soldiers  were  allotted  to  me 
to  act  as  hospital  orderlies,  and  they  proved  apt 
pupils  at  their  work.  I  trained  them  to  act  as 


160    THE  INTERVAL  BETWEEN  THE  BATTLES. 

dressers  and  nurses,  and  found  that  they  carried 
out  their  novel  duties  excellently.  We  had  a 
good  many  deaths  at  first,  and  news  was  always 
conveyed  to  the  Moslem  priests,  who  came  and 
laid  out  the  dead,  wrapping  the  bodies  in  white 
linen  sheets,  and  taking  them  away  for  burial 
in  the  Turkish  burial-ground.  Good,  nourishing 
food  was  provided  for  the  convalescents,  who  had 
plenty  of  beef-tea,  soup,  pilaf,  eggs,  and  bread  ; 
and  possessing  as  they  did  an  extraordinary 
recuperative  faculty  and  constitutions  unimpaired 
by  intemperance,  a  very  fair  percentage  recovered. 


CHAPTER    VII 

THE    SECOND    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA    (jULY    30). 

Talks  with  my  Patients — A  Candid  Kurd — Grim  Confessions — 
How  he  killed  his  Enemy — Dr.  Robert's  Cave  of  Refuge — He 
loses  his  Dinner — The  Spy's  Death — Canards  in  the  Town 
—The  Second  Battle  of  Plevna— I  take  a  Hand— Turkish 
Women  as  Water-carriers — A  Woman  shot  in  Action — My 
Veiled  Patient— Osman  Pasha's  Bay  Cob— A  Sign  of  Hot 
Fighting— The  Attack  on  the  Village  of  Grivitza— Czet- 
wertinski  and  his  Cigarette — Retreat  of  the  Russian  Infantry 
— A  Cavalry  Pursuit — Mustapha  Bey  waves  his  Sword — I 
join  in  the  Charge — An  Exultant  Ride — The  Retreat 
sounded — We  retire — A  sauve  qui  £eut — Horrible  Fears — 
The  Ride  through  the  Maize-field — Our  Infantry  Panic- 
struck — Osman  Pasha's  Method  of  rallying  Men — A  Timely 
Reinforcement— The  Day  is  ours — Tremendous  Russian 
Losses — Russian  Physique  compared  with  Turkish — 
Wounded  Horses  on  the  Battle-field — Back  in  the  Hospital 
— Many  Operations — Osman  Pasha  decorated — The  Muchir 
makes  a  Speech — I  shift  my  Quarters  again — Bulgarian 
Hospitality — A  Youthful  Friend — A  Terrific  Rainstorm — 
The  Tutchenitza  runs  a  Banker — A  Ghastly  Find  in  a 
Gooseberry  Bush. 

ALTHOUGH  I  could  speak  Turkish  sufficiently  to 
make  myself  understood  for  ordinary  purposes, 
I  found  myself  in  difficulties  when  my  patients 
began  to  talk  to  me  about  their  private  affairs,  or 
to  go  into  long  accounts  of  their  adventures  on  the 

161  II 


1 62      THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

battle-field.  Sometimes,  however,  I  was  able  to 
gather  a  few  startling  illustrations  of  the  ferocity 
with  which  the  engagement  had  been  fought. 

One  of  my  patients  was  the  colonel  of  a 
Kurdish  regiment,  a  magnificent  specimen  of  a 
man,  who  had  been  shot  in  the  thigh  by  a  rifle- 
bullet.  The  ball  had  entered  the  left  thigh  on  the 
outside,  passed  clean  through  it,  and  also  through 
the  right  thigh,  making  four  distinct  wounds, 
which  had  occasioned  a  great  deal  of  haemorrhage 
with  inflammatory  conditions  and  high  tempera- 
ture. I  refrain  from  giving  this  patient's  name 
as  he  may  be  still  alive,  and  he  probably  would 
not  desire  to  remember  the  incident  which  he 
related  to  me. 

He  told  me  that  he  received  his  wound  in  the 
height  of  the  action,  and  became  for  a  while  un- 
conscious. When  he  came  to  himself,  he  com- 
menced to  crawl  on  his  hands  and  knees  towards 
the  Turkish  lines,  and  on  his  way  he  came  to  a 
Russian  officer  lying  wounded  on  the  ground.  I 
give  the  story  now  in  his  own  words.  "  I  saw 
him  lying  there  before  me,"  whispered  my  patient 
to  me  as  I  dressed  his  wounds,  "  and  the  impulse 
to  kill  him  came  into  my  mind.  I  suppose  he 
read  my  purpose  in  my  face,  for  he  pointed  to  his 
wound,  and  then  he  held  up  his  hands  to  me  as 
if  to  ask  for  quarter.  As  I  crawled  over  on  my 
hands  and  knees,  I  knelt  over  him  and  pointed 
to  my  own  wounds  in  reply.  Then  I  drew  my 


GRIM    CONFESSIONS.  163 

revolver  and  shot  him  through  the  head.  My 
servant,  who  had  come  to  look  for  me,  was  close 
behind  me.  He  was  a  Kurd,  and  he  took  his 
long  Kurdish  knife  and  cut  off  the  Russian's  head 
before  he  was  dead.  The  air  made  a  gurgling, 
bubbling  sound  as  the  knife  went  through  the 
windpipe.  The  Russian  officer  had  a  long  fair 
beard.  He  was  a  fine  man,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  his  face.  You  are  horrified.  Well,  it  was 
war.  I  was  not  a  man  then,  I  was  a  wild  beast. 
I  killed  him  as  he  lay  there  because  he  was  in 
my  power.  If  I  had  been  in  the  same  position, 
he  would  have  killed  me.  It  was  destiny." 

Each  of  the  members  of  the  medical  staff  had 
a  similar  hospital  to  attend  to,  and  all  were 
managed  on  much  the  same  lines.  As  a  rule  I 
finished  my  work  in  the  forenoon,  and  had  the 
rest  of  the  day  more  or  less  to  myself,  except 
when  it  was  my  turn  to  attend  at  the  main 
hospital,  where  once  a  week  I  had  to  be  in 
attendance  all  night  on  emergency  duty. 

I  was  on  friendly  terms  with  the  colonels  of 
most  of  the  regiments,  and  especially  with  Tewfik 
Bey,  who  used  to  keep  me  supplied  with  the 
latest  news  until  he  went  to  Lovtcha,  and  then 
I  was  thrown  back  on  my  own  resources  ;  but  I 
found  plenty  of  entertainment  in  watching  the 
progress  of  the  fortifications,  trenches,  and  re- 
doubts, which  the  troops  were  constructing  with 
ceaseless  activity  under  the  direction  of  Tewfik 


164      THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

Bey,  who  laid  out  the  works  before  he  went  to 
Lovtcha. 

Although  not  very  particular  as  to  what  I  ate, 
I  got  very  tired  of  the  incessant  pilaf  and 
scrambled  eggs  which  my  Circassian  cooked  for 
me,  and  both  Weinberger  and  I  always  looked 
forward  with  lively  pleasure  to  an  invitation  to  dine 
with  Dr.  Robert,  who  was  certainly  very  liberal 
in  his  hospitality.  On  these  occasions  we  had 
European  food  admirably  cooked  by  the  Viennese 
housekeeper,  and  Robert  always  produced  his 
best  Bulgarian  wine.  I  think  I  can  see  him  now, 
dressed  in  his  dirty  yellow  suit  of  Bulgarian 
frieze,  with  his  long,  sinuous  fingers  flying  over 
the  keys  of  his  piano  as  he  yelled  out  song  after 
song  in  half  the  languages  of  Europe  until  far 
into  the  early  hours  of  the  morning.  Peace  to 
his  ashes !  He  used  to  give  us  capital  dinners  ; 
but  I  never  could  find  out  what  happened  to 
him  eventually. 

One  little  incident  connected  with  him  is 
perhaps  worth  recording  here,  though  it  occurred 
at  a  later  period  in  the  campaign.  When  the 
shells  were  falling  fast  in  Plevna,  Robert  dug  a 
large  hole  in  his  garden,  and  was  accustomed  to 
bury  himself  in  it  like  a  mole  whenever  the  firing 
became  particularly  hot.  One  day,  when  I  was 
watching  outside  his  'garden,  I  saw  the  house- 
keeper bring  in  his  midday  meal,  steaming  hot 
and  very  appetizing.  Just  as  Robert  sat  down 


i877-]  CANARDS    IN    THE    TOWN.  165 

to  it  a  shell  exploded  on  the  top  of  the  house, 
and  Robert  was  off  to  his  hole  in  the  ground 
like  a  fox  with  a  pack  of  hounds  at  its  heels.  As 
he  lay  there  quaking,  it  seemed  a  pity  that  the 
dinner  should  be  allowed  to  get  cold,  so  I  vaulted 
the  fence  and  ate  it  myself.  The  cutlets  were 
simply  delicious. 

Of  course  Robert  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
wounded  men.  He  was  simply  a  Bulgarian 
doctor,  and  was,  moreover,  strongly  suspected 
of  Russophile  proclivities.  Long  afterwards  I 
heard  a  rumour  that  he  was  shot  as  a  spy  before 
Plevna  fell. 

In  those  days  of  comparative  quiet  which  pre- 
ceded the  second  battle  we  only  gleaned  stray 
pieces  of  news  from  the  outside  world.  The 
telegraph  wire  was  closed  to  all  private  despatches, 
and  the  information  which,  filtered  into  the  town 
was  consequently  of  the  vaguest.  The  soldiers 
who  came  up  from  Sofia  certainly  brought  us 
news  as  to  the  progress  of  the  campaign  in  other 
parts  of  the  Turkish  Empire  ;  and  we  learnt  that 
while  the  army  of  the  Lorn  was  doing  fairly  well, 
Suleiman  Pasha's  forces  had  sustained  a  serious 
disaster  at  the  Shipka  Pass.  The  untrustworthy 
nature  of  the  news,  however,  may  be  understood 
from  the  fact  that  for  some  days  a  persistent 
rumour  was  current  that  Great  Britain  had 
declared  war  against  Russia,  and  that  twenty 
thousand  British  troops  were  even  then  at  Sofia. 


1 66     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

In  order  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  the  significance 
of  the  second  battle  of  Plevna  it  is  necessary  to 
comprehend  the  position  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  Russian  commanders,  who  realized  that 
if  they  did  not  blot  out  their  crushing  defeat  of 
June  20  by  a  great  victory  they  would  be  com- 
pelled to  abandon  the  initiative  and  fall  back  upon 
a  tedious  defensive  policy  with  all  its  attendant 
disadvantages.  It  was  clear  that  the  most  natural 
course  to  attempt  was  to  crush  Osman  Pasha's 
army,  for  Plevna  was  much  more  accessible  than 
either  Rasgrad  or  Eski-Zagra  ;  it  was  easier  to 
concentrate  a  force  there,  and  there  was  no  imme- 
diate danger  in  any  other  quarter.  To  attack 
the  Turkish  army  of  the  east  would  probably 
necessitate  protracted  siege  operations  ;  while  if 
Osman  Pasha  were  defeated,  it  would  be  easy 
to  reinforce  General  Gourko,  and  afterwards 
advance  against  Suleiman  Pasha's  army.  Thus 
it  was  that  the  Russian  general  staff",  who  were 
sixty  miles  away  at  Tirnova,  resolved  to  attack 
Plevna,  and  entrusted  the  task  to  Prince 
Schahoffskoi  and  General  Krlidener.  Let  us 
see  with  what  result. 

On  the  27th  and  28th  of  July  our  scouts  reported 
the  proximity  of  large  bodies  of  Russians  coming 
from  Nicopolis  and  Poradim,  and  we  all  recog- 
nized that  an  attack  was  imminent.  The  2Qth 
was  quiet ;  but  on  the  morning  of  the  3Oth,  as  I 
was  at  breakfast,  I  heard  the  boom  of  the  heavy 


1877.]  I    TAKE    A    HAND.  167 

guns  once  more,  and  recognized  that  the  Russian 
artillery  preparation  for  the  attack  had  com- 
menced, and  that  the  Turkish  batteries  were 
replying.  The  early  morning  had  been  damp 
and  foggy ;  but  when  the  fog  lifted  the  sun  came 
out  strongly,  and  it  became  blazing  hot.  I  had 
received  no  special  instructions  from  Hassib  Bey, 
my  superior  officer,  and  I  resolved  to  see  as 
much  of  the  fighting  as  possible.  So,  when  I 
had  finished  my  work  at  the  hospital,  I  saddled 
my  horse,  and  galloped  off  as  a  free-lance  with 
my  pocket-case  of  surgical  instruments  and  two 
large  bags,  one  containing  tiftig,  or  lint,  and 
the  other  bandages.  For  weapons  I  carried  a 
sword  and  a  revolver,  but  no  carbine.  No  field 
ambulance  had  been  organized,  and  it  occurred 
to  me  that  I  might  be  of  some  service  to  the 
wounded.  So  I  headed  in  a  south-easterly  direc- 
tion, where  the  firing  seemed  particularly  heavy ; 
and  about  a  mile  from  the  town  I  rode  up  the 
slope  of  a  small  colline,  below  the  crest  of 
which  a  regiment  of  Turkish  infantry  were  lying 
under  cover.  The  day  was  very  hot,  and  the 
men  had  had  nothing  to  drink  since  they  took 
up  their  position  five  or  six  hours  before.  When 
I  got  there  it  was  about  ten  o'clock,  and  the  first 
thing  I  saw  was  a  long  procession  of  Turkish 
women  of  the  poorer  class,  who  were  carrying 
earthen  pitchers  of  water  from  a  small  stream 
at  the  foot  of  the  hill  to  the  thirsty  troops  lying 


1 68     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

in  position.  Some  were  ascending  with  full 
pitchers,  and  others  were  descending  again  with 
the  empty  vessels  to  replenish  them  at  the  stream. 
At  this  time  the  roar  of  the  guns  was  terrific, 
and  the  Russian  shells  were  screaming  over  our 
heads,  some  of  them  exploding  in  the  air  and 
others  striking  the  ground  behind  us.  The 
women,  who  were  all  dressed  in  white,  with  their 
yashmaks  over  their  faces,  and  only  their  eyes 
showing,  went  steadily  on  with  their  self-appointed 
task,  carrying  their  pitchers  of  water  up  to  the 
men  and  back  to  the  stream  without  a  falter. 
When  I  was  about  two  hundred  yards  from  the 
crest  where  the  troops  were  lying,  a  shell  burst 
within  a  few  yards  of  me,  and  a  fragment  of  it 
struck  one  of  the  women  in  the  arm.  She 
screamed  out  as  the  artery  spirted  up  over  the 
white  dress,  and  I  made  her  my  first  patient  in 
the  battle. 

As  soon  as  the  other  women  saw  that  she 
was  wounded,  they  made  a  great  fuss,  chattering 
away  like  magpies.  They  placed  her  under  a 
tree,  and  at  first  refused  to  let  me  attend  to 
her,  for  a  Giaour  must  not  touch  a  Turkish 
woman  under  any  circumstances ;  but  when  they 
could  not  stop  the  bleeding  themselves,  they  be- 
came alarmed,  and  offered  no  objections  when  I 
approached  with  my  bags  of  lint  and  bandages. 
I  slit  up  the  sleeve  of  her  dress  with  a  pair  of 
scissors  and  stanched  the  bleeding ;  but  the 


i877.]  OSMAN    PASHAS    BAY   COB.  169 

injury  was  only  a  flesh  wound,  and  not  serious. 
Osman  Pasha  got  to  hear  of  the  women  being 
there  somehow,  and  presently  an  aide-de-camp 
came  galloping  up  and  cleared  the  whole  lot 
of  them  off.  They  went  back  into  the  town, 
and  I  saw  no  more  of  them. 

When  I  reached  the  crest  of  the  hill  and 
looked  round,  I  saw  an  immense  panorama  of 
country  thickly  sprinkled  with  hills,  and  from 
every  individual  summit  a  battery  of  field-guns 
seemed  to  be  roaring.  No  Russian  infantry  were 
visible,  and  it  was  impossible  to  say  which  were 
the  Russian  guns  and  which  the  Turkish.  The 
noise  was  terrific,  and  everywhere  I  saw  clouds 
of  dust,  with  here  and  there  a  Russian  battery 
with  six  horses  going  at  full  gallop,  as  the 
guns  came  into  action  at  a  new  position.  Over 
towards  Grivitza  and  over  by  Radishevo  and  on 
the  crest  of  every  hill  we  had  men  placed,  and 
our  batteries  were  answering  the  Russian  fire. 
I  attended  a  few  wounded  men  who  had  been 
struck  by  fragments  of  shells,  and  then  I  rode 
off  due  east  towards  the  village  of  Grivitza,  which 
was  the  objective  of  both  the  attacking  columns. 

On  the  way  I  met  Osman  Pasha  and  his 
staff,  and  saluted  them.  Osman  looked  careworn 
and  very  anxious.  He  was  riding  a  little  bay 
cob,  which  he  always  used  when  any  specially 
dangerous  operations  were  in  progress,  preferring 
not  to  run  the  risk  of  getting  either  of  his  two 


THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

other  valuable  chargers  killed.  That  little  bay 
cob  was  a  capital  barometer  by  which  to  gauge 
the  warmth  of  the  fighting  ;  and  whenever  he 
made  his  appearance  on  the  battle-field,  it  was 
safe  to  assume  that  affairs  were  pretty  critical. 
Just  as  I  passed  Osman  Pasha,  I  heard  the 
whistle  of  rifle-bullets  for  the  first  time  in  the 
engagement. 

Looking  over  towards  Radishevo,  I  could 
make  out  a  strong  Russian  force  in  the  village. 
They  were  sending  their  guns  on  in  front,  and 
the  infantry  were  advancing,  also  following  the 
guns,  which  were  going  at  a  furious  gallop.  I 
could  see  Osman  Pasha  and  his  staff  riding  over 
towards  the  Bulgareni  road,  which  lay  at  the 
foot  of  the  Janik  Bair,  with  the  Grivitza  brook 
running  alongside  it.  As  I  followed  them  I 
met  several  wounded  men  dragging  themselves 
slowly  and  painfully  from  the  front  to  the  hospital 
at  Plevna,  and  I  was  able  to  reduce  their 
sufferings  a  little,  though  of  course  I  could  not 
attempt  any  operations  even  of  the  simplest  kind. 
Gradually  I  became  aware  of  the  general  dis- 
position of  the  opposing  forces,  and  found  that 
the  Turks,  roughly  speaking,  occupied  the  arc 
of  a  circle  south  and  south-east  of  Plevna,  while 
the  Russian  troops  were  advancing  in  converging 
lines  upon  them  with  the  village  of  Grivitza 
evidently  as  the  main  object  of  their  attack. 
From  the  top  of  the  hill  where  I  stood  I  could 


i877-]  ATTACK    ON    GRIVITZA. 

make  out  the  advancing  lines  of  the  Russians, 
while  our  troops  by  this  time  were  below  me, 
standing  in  hastily  constructed  trenches  which  they 
had  dug  for  protection  against  the  increasingly 
heavy  fire.  Some  idea  of  the  infernal  tumult 
which  was  going  on  may  be  gathered  from  the 
fact  that  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  heavy  guns 
were  firing  incessantly,  while  the  infantry  fusillade 
extended  in  an  unbroken  line  from  one  end  of 
the  arc  of  defence  to  the  other.  From  where 
I  stood  I  could  see  the  attack  on  the  village 
of  Grivitza  quite  plainly.  The  Russians  attacked 
in  column  of  front  half  a  mile  wide,  while  our 
men  waited  grimly  breast  high  in  the  trenches 
in  front  of  the  village.  The  whole  place  was 
so  thickly  covered  with  smoke,  and  the  area  of 
the  battle-field  was  so  extended,  that  sometimes 
I  scarcely  knew  who  were  Turks  and  who  were 
Russians.  I  rode  back  a  little  way  from  the 
crest  of  the  hill  to  get  cover,  and  presently  my 
friend  Czetwertinski  galloped  up  with  eighty 
troopers,  who  formed  the  bodyguard  of  Osman 
Pasha.  We  had  a  talk  together,  and  presently, 
as  we  could  not  see  much  from  where  we  were, 
we  agreed  to  go  up  and  inspect  our  first  line 
of  defence.  Just  below  the  crown  of  the  hill 
we  found  four  thousand  Turkish  troops  en- 
trenched and  blazing  away  at  the  Russians  who 
were  developing  the  attack  on  the  position. 
Czetwertinski  and  I  rode  together  to  the  extreme 


172     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

end  of  our  line  of  infantry,  and  I  could  hear 
the  bullets  whistling  like  hornets  all  round  us. 
Czetwertinski,  as  he  sat  there  on  his  horse, 
leisurely  rolled  a  cigarette  for  himself,  and  then 
looked  round  for  a  light.  Seeing  that  the  soldier 
in  the  trenches  nearest  to  us  was  puffing  calmly 
at  a  cigarette  himself  in  the  intervals  of  business, 
Czetwertinski  sang  out  to  him,  "  Verbana  a-tish," 
meaning,  "Give  me  a  light."  The  man  clambered 
out  of  the  trench,  saluted,  and  handed  his  lighted 
cigarette  to  Prince  Czetwertinski.  As  he  stood 
there  in  the  act  of  saluting  a  rifle-bullet  went 
through  his  head,  and  the  man  threw  up  his 
arms  and  fell  dead.  Czetwertinski  remarked 
to  me  that  it  was  not  good  enough  to  stop 
there  any  longer  ;  so  we  retired  to  the  other 
side  of  the  hill  again,  and  rejoined  the  cavalry, 
who  were  waiting  there  under  cover. 

Just  at  this  juncture  the  Russians,  who  were 
advancing  in  two  lines  of  company  columns,  a 
formation  totally  unfitted  for  modern  warfare, 
began  to  falter  under  the  terrific  fire  from  our 
trenches.  The  faltering  grew  more  decided,  and 
in  a  few  moments  the  advance  was  changed 
to  a  retreat.  This  was  our  opportunity.  The 
bugles  sounded  for  the  Turkish  cavalry  to  ad- 
vance ;  and  almost  before  I  could  realize  what  was 
happening,  I  saw  old  Mustapha  Bey,  the  colonel 
of  the  regiment,  and  the  eighty  troopers,  with 
Czetwertinski  among  them,  going  off  at  full  gallop 


i877.]  I    JOIN    IN    THE    CHARGE.  173 

straight  towards  the  retreating  Russian  infantry, 
who  had  already  begun  to  run.  For  a  moment 
I  hesitated  what  to  do.  Then  old  Mustapha  Bey 
waved  his  sword,  and  sang  out  to  me  to  come 
along  with  them  ;  so  I  forgot  that  I  was  a  simple 
medical  officer.  I  drove  the  spurs  into  my  horse, 
and  in  half  a  minute  I  was  riding  alongside 
Czetwertinski  in  a  wild  charge  against  the  flying 
Russians.  We  climbed  the  hill  at  a  gallop,  rode 
through  our  own  men  at  the  top,  and  charged 
down  the  slope  towards  Schahoffskoi's  fugitives. 
There  was  a  large  field  of  ripe  maize  on  our  right 
as  we  went  down  the  hill,  and  I  could  see  the 
Russians  running  through  it  as  hard  as  their  legs 
could  carry  them,  believing  of  course  that  a 
strong  body  of  cavalry  was  swooping  down  to 
cut  off  their  retreat.  Next  to  the  field  of  standing 
maize  was  a  field  of  barley,  which;  had  been  reaped 
and  piled  in  stocks.  I  could  see  the  Russians 
dodging  in  and  out  among  the  stocks  as  we  rode 
towards  them,  our  troopers  yelling  and  cheering 
as  they  emptied  their  carbines  and  revolvers  into 
the  mass  of  the  fugitives.  The  Russian  officers 
were  trying  to  rally  their  men,  and  parties  of 
them  began  to  make  a  stand  under  some  trees 
and  to  reply  to  our  fire.  In  a  moment  more, 
when  the  most  venturesome  of  the  troopers  had 
got  within  forty  or  fifty  yards  of  the  fugitives, 
the  Russians  suddenly  faced  round,  and,  recogniz- 
ing that  they  were  attacked  by  a  mere  handful 


174     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

of  men,  took  up  a  formation  and  poured  their 
fire  into  us  in  earnest.  Hassan  Labri  Pasha,  who 
was  watching  the  whole  thing,  foresaw  that  our 
retreat  was  likely  to  be  cut  off,  and  he  sounded 
the  retreat.  We  wheeled  our  horses  just  in 
time,  drove  the  spurs  in,  and  galloped  back  for 
our  lives. 

Probably  no  man  except  one  who  has  been  in 
a  similar  position  can  even  faintly  guess  at  the 
rapid  change  of  feeling  which  comes  over  one 
at  such  a  crisis.  A  few  moments  before,  while 
we  were  galloping  forward  against  the  fugitives, 
I  felt  as  brave  as  a  lion ;  but  when  once  I  had 
turned  my  back  to  them  and  heard  their  bullets 
whistling  round  me,  a  mortal  dread  came  over 
me,  and  if  I  had  had  a  hundred  millions  in  the 
bank  I  would  have  given  it  all  to  be  a  furlong 
farther  from  the  muzzles  of  those  Russian  rifles. 
It  was  every  man  for  himself  of  course,  and  we 
did  not  attempt  to  preserve  any  sort  of  formation. 
The  instinct  of  a  hunted  animal  flying  for  cover 
made  me  turn  towards  the  maize-field,  and  I 
galloped  into  the  friendly  shelter  of  the  tall  stems, 
bending  my  head  low  over  my  horse's  neck  and 
urging  him  forward  with  voice  and  spur.  The 
maize  was  tall  enough  to  conceal  a  horse  and 
man  completely,  so  that  the  Russians  could  not 
take  aim  at  any  individual  mark  ;  but  they  poured 
incessant  volleys  into  the  field,  and  many  a 
bullet  fired  at  random  found  its  billet.  As  these 


I877-]  A    TIMELY    REINFORCEMENT.  175 

hundreds  of  bullets  cut  the  maize  stalks  in  all 
directions  round  me,  I  must  confess  that  my 
previous  recklessness  had  given  place  to  a  ghastly, 
overmastering  terror.  Wherever  I  turned,  danger 
was  by  my  side,  and  I  could  only  press  blindly 
forward  and  hope  for  the  best.  A  trooper  close 
by  me  suddenly  threw  up  his  arms,  and  seemed 
to  spring  several  feet  up  from  the  saddle  before 
he  fell  with  a  thud  among  the  blood-soaked  maize 
stalks.  It  occurred  to  me  then  that  he  must  have 
been  shot  through  the  heart. 

By  this  time  the  entire  Russian  force  which 
had  been  attacking  our  position  on  the  hill  was 
in  full  pursuit ;  and  as  I  came  out  on  the  other 
side  of  the  maize-field  with  the  other  survivors 
of  that  mistaken  charge,  I  saw  with  dismay  that 
our  retreat  had  affected  our  own  infantrymen 
with  a  panic.  They  had  held  their  ground  stub- 
bornly while  the  Russians  were  developing  the 
original  attack  ;  but  when  they  saw  us  galloping 
back  pell-mell  with  the  returning  Russians  behind 
us,  the  moral  influence  of  our  retreat  was  too 
much  for  them,  and  they  started  to  run  from 
the  position.  It  was  a  critical  moment ;  but  the 
threatened  retreat  was  stopped  as  quickly  as  it 
began  ;  for  Osman  Pasha,  who  had  been  watching 
the  affair  with  his  staff  from  the  top  of  the  hill, 
took  prompt  steps  to  rally  the  men.  The  slope 
of  the  hill,  from  the  crest  down  to  where  the 
men  were  entrenched,  was  extraordinarily  steep ; 


176     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

but  when  we  rode  up  it,  and  the  men  in  the 
trenches  began  to  follow  us,  Osman  Pasha  and 
his  staff  came  down  it  at  full  gallop,  with  shouts 
and  direful  threats,  emptying  their  revolvers  at 
the  advancing  body  of  their  own  men.  This 
drastic  remedy  had  the  desired  effect,  and  the  men 
rallied,  took  their  places  again  in  the  trenches, 
and  opened  fire  upon  the  Russians. 

By  this  time  it  was  beginning  to  get  dusk ; 
and  as  the  firing  showed  no  signs  of  diminution, 
I  made  my  way  back  to  Plevna  as  fast  as  I  could 
go,  in  the  full  conviction  that  it  was  all  up 
with  us,  and  that  the  Russians  would  be  in  the 
town  soon  after  me.  What  actually  happened 
was  this.  The  Russians  took  our  first  line  of 
trenches,  when  Osman  Pasha,  seeing  that  the 
northern  attack  had  died  out,  ordered  down  two 
fresh  regiments  along  the  Nicopolis  road  to  rein- 
force the  position.  The  men  were  quite  fresh, 
and  they  "  doubled  "  the  whole  way,  covering  the 
intervening  two  miles  in  about  twelve  minutes, 
and  arriving  just  in  time  to  bar  the  farther  advance 
of  the  Russians,  who  fell  back  after  some  desperate 
hand-to-hand  fighting. 

When  I  reached  the  town,  the  bullets  were 
falling  pretty  thickly  in  the  streets,  showing  that 
the  Russians  had  penetrated  unpleasantly  close. 
I  saw  a  Bulgarian  coming  out  of  a  house  with 
a  bucket  to  fill  it  with  water  from  a  small  foun- 
tain in  the  middle  of  the  street ;  but  before  he 


i877-]  RUSSIAN    DEFEAT    AND    LOSS.  177 

reached   the   fountain  he  fell    dead  drilled   by  a 
rifle-ball. 

Coming  to  the  hospital,  I  was  soon  up  to  my 
neck  in  work.  Gradually  the  firing  died  away, 
and  all  night  long  the  wounded  kept  coming 
in,  some  walking  and  others  in  arabas.  We 
had  thirty-seven  medical  men  on  the  staff  at  this 
time,  and  there  was  plenty  for  all  to  do.  No 
one  knew  exactly  what  had  happened  ;  and  I 
remember  telling  several  of  the  wounded  men, 
who  inquired  how  the  day  had  gone,  that  we 
had  been  beaten.  Later  on,  however,  I  found 
that  we  had  won  a  great  victory,  and  that  the 
Russians  had  been  decisively  beaten  all  along 
the  line  ;  Krudener's  and  Schahoffskoi's  columns 
having  suffered  terrible  loss,  while  Skobeleff,  who 
had  been  fighting  on  the  Green  Hills,  had 
retired  his  force  in  good  order,  and  with  lighter 
loss.  The  Russian  total  loss  was  given  as  one 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  officers,  and  seven  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  thirty-six  men,  or  about 
one-fourth  of  the  total  force.  Even  this  figure, 
however,  is  believed  to  be  largely  under-estimated. 
The  Turkish  loss  was  about  eight  hundred  killed 
and  nine  hundred  wounded. 

In  spite  of  this  splendid  victory,  the  great 
chance  of  the  campaign  was  missed  owing  to 
the  want  of  cavalry.  If  we  had  had  a  strong 
body  of  cavalry,  scarcely  a  Russian  would  have 
reached  the  Danube  alive ;  and  even  as  it  was  the 

12 


178      THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

panic  among  the  Russians  at  Sistova  was  so  great 
that  a  rush  was  made  upon  the  bridge,  and  many 
waggons  were  actually  pushed  over  into  the  river 
by  the  crowding  fugitives. 

As  for  my  little  troop  of  cavalry  with  whom 
I  made  that  desperate  charge  and  still  more  des- 
perate retreat,  it  had  been  absolutely  decimated, 
though  Mustapha  Bey  the  colonel,  Czetwertinski 
the  captain,  and  the  Turkish  lieutenant,  all  escaped 
as  fortunately  as  myself. 

In  the  town  of  Plevna  we  had  plenty  of 
accommodation  for  the  wounded,  and  all  the 
arrangements  for  attending  to  them  were  in  far 
better  order  than  on  the  occasion  of  the  first 
battle.  When  the  main  hospital  was  full,  we 
sent  the  men  off  to  the  smaller  hospitals,  and 
many  of  the  less  serious  cases  lay  out  in  the 
open  air  all  night.  It  was  a  repetition  in  many 
respects  of  our  experience  after  the  first  battle  ; 
for  we  had  forty-eight  hours  of  almost  continuous 
work,  and  then  the  great  bulk  of  the  men  were 
put  into  carts  and  sent  away  to  Sofia.  On  the 
first  night  after  the  artillery  firing  had  ceased, 
all  was  quiet,  and  the  only  sounds  to  be  heard 
in  the  town  were  the  cries  and  moans  of  the 
wounded  and  the  loud  creaking  of  the  great 
wooden-wheeled  waggons  as  they  rolled  over 
the  cobble-stones  outside. 

As  I  have  said,  we  were  much  better  prepared 
for  the  reception  of  the  wounded  than  after  the 


1 877-]          PHYSIQUE    OF    RUSSIANS    AND    TURKS.         179 

first  battle ;  for  we  had  plenty  of  instruments, 
chloroform,  antiseptic  solutions,  and  bandages, 
and,  moreover,  we  had  trained  a  number  of  the 
soldiers  to  act  as  an  ambulance  corps.  These 
assistants  were  able  to  help  us  very  materially, 
and  had  become  quite  expert  dressers.  In  the 
majority  of  cases  the  wounds  were  very  severe, 
as  the  men  had  fought  principally  in  the  trenches, 
and  when  hit  they  were  generally  shot  either 
through  the  head  or  right  through  the  chest. 

On  August  i  I  got  away  from  the  hospital 
at  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  rode 
out  to  have  a  look  at  the  battle-field.  Near 
the  spot  where  the  Grivitza  redoubt  was  after- 
wards built  the  Russian  dead  lay  thickest,  and 
within  a  space  of  about  two  acres  on  this  rising 
slope  I  counted  fifteen  hundred  bodies.  The 
spectacle  was  a  horrifying  one.  Turkish  burial 
parties  had  already  been  out  burying  our  dead  ;  but 
the  Russians  were  left  where  they  fell.  Nearly 
all  of  them  were  absolutely  naked,  for  the  Bashi- 
Bazouks  had  been  there  already,  and  had  stripped 
them  of  arms  and  clothing  completely.  I  could 
not  help  noticing  the  difference  in  physique  be- 
tween the  Russian  soldiers  and  the  Turks.  The 
Russians  were  far  less  robust,  and  many  of  them 
seemed  to  be  mere  lads,  hardly  equal  to  the  task 
of  carrying  the  heavy  Berdan  or  Krenke  rifle. 
Broken  gun  carriages  lay  on  every  side,  and  the 
ground  was  scarred  and  torn  in  all  directions. 


l8o  THE    SECOND    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

A  number  of  wounded  horses,  lying  on  the 
ground  unable  to  rise,  were  neighing  pitifully,  and 
farther  off  two  or  three  more  with  broken  legs 
and  entrails  hanging  out  were  dragging  them- 
selves slowly  and  painfully  to  a  pool  of  water 
that  had  collected  in  a  hollow  at  the  foot  of  a 
hill.  I  shot  four  of  the  unfortunate  creatures 
with  my  revolver,  and  put  them  out  of  their 
misery. 

Some  of  the  wounded  men  were  in  very 
strange  attitudes.  One  man  was  kneeling  as 
if  in  prayer ;  another  was  on  his  hands  and 
knees  ;  another  was  lying  in  his  own  brains. 
All  three  had  been  stripped  by  the  Bashi-Bazouks. 
The  Russian  line  of  retreat  could  be  easily 
distinguished,  for  it  was  marked  out  by  a  track 
of  dead  bodies  laid  as  plainly  as  the  track  of 
a  paper-chase.  .  Here  and  there  I  could  see 
where  groups  of  them  had  tried  to  make  a  little 
stand,  and  had  been  shot  down  thirty  or  forty 
or  fifty  at  a  time.  I  saw  one  dead  man  in  a 
most  extraordinary  position.  He  was  stuck  in 
the  fork  of  a  tree  about  fifteen  feet  from  the 
ground,  having  evidently  climbed  it  for  safety, 
and  then  been  shot  by  a  stray  bullet. 

Returning  from  my  visit  to  the  dead,  I  devoted 
myself  again  to  the  wounded  in  the  hospitals, 
and  performed  a  number  of  amputations  together 
with  Osman  Effendi,  who  worked  splendidly 
with  me.  In  the  intervals  of  work  next  day 


i877-]  HOSPITAL    WORK.  l8l 

I  rode  out  again  to  the  battle-field,  which  was 
beginning  to  smell  terribly,  so  that  we  had  to 
send  out  more  burial  parties  to  bury  them  in 
large  trenches  containing  eighty  or  a  hundred 
bodies  each.  So  terrible  had  been  the  slaughter 
that  some  Russian  regiments  had  literally  ceased 
to  exist. 

Within  a  very  few  days  after  the  battle  we  had 
sent  away  the  greater  number  of  the  wounded, 
and  only  the  cases  for  operation  remained.  All 
of  these  were  removed  to  the  main  hospital,  and 
Osman  Effendi  and  myself  resumed  our  work  upon 
this  new  supply  of  patients.  All  our  operations 
were  done  out  of  doors  in  the  same  place  under 
the  willow  tree  near  the  bank  of  the  Tutchenitza. 
A  great  number  of  cases  ended  fatally  which 
in  a  civil  hospital  would  probably  have  resulted 
differently  ;  but  we  did  not  attempt  any  intricate 
operations,  and  we  were  also  hampered  by  the 
fact  that  the  patients  frequently  preferred  to  die 
rather  than  undergo  the  amputation  of  a  limb. 
If  a  man  had  a  bullet  in  his  knee,  for  instance, 
such  a  thing  as  excising  the  knee  or  laying  it 
open  was  never  thought  of,  and  we  simply  took 
the  leg  off.  This  is  a  legitimate  course  for  a 
surgeon  to  adopt  in  time  of  war,  because  the 
skilled  attention  necessary  to  the  after  treatment 
of  a  delicate  operation  was  not  available,  and  it 
was  often  better  surgery  to  take  a  man's  leg  off 
and  preserve  his  life  than  to  perform  an  intricate 


1 82     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

operation  in  order  to  save  the  leg  with  the  pro- 
bability of  the  patient  succumbing  for  want  of 
careful  nursing  afterwards.  As  in  the  case  of 
the  wounded  in  the  first  battle,  there  were  a 
large  number  of  men  whose  fingers  we  had  to 
amputate. 

Trade  revived  quite  briskly  as  soon  as  things 
began  to  settle  down  again  in  the  town,  and  the 
bazaars  were  all  in  full  swing.  Many  Spanish 
Jews,  scenting  large  profits  from  afar,  put  in  an 
appearance,  and  bought  Russian  coin  and  arms 
from  the  Circassians  who  had  secured  the  plunder. 
A  Russian  rouble  was  to  be  had  for  twopence, 
and  an  officer's  sword  could  be  had  for  a  franc. 
I  myself  bought  two  beautifully  mounted  Russian 
revolvers,  which  I  still  possess. 

Osman  Pasha  was  overwhelmed  with  congratu- 
lations upon  his  brilliant  victory  from  all  quarters 
of  Europe,  and  I  was  a  witness  of  an  impressive 
scene  when  he  was  the  recipient  of  the  highest 
military  honour  that  the  Sultan  can  bestow.  It 
was  a  few  days  after  the  battle,  and  I  was  stand- 
ing close  to  the  headquarters  camp,  behind  which 
all  the  reserves  were  stationed,  when  I  heard  the 
bugles  sounding  the  "  fall  in."  Everything  had 
been  perfectly  quiet,  and  there  was  no  sign  of 
the  proximity  of  the  Russians,  so  that  I  was  at 
a  loss  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  order ; 
but  it  was  carried  out  with  astonishing  celerity. 
Within  five  minutes  several  thousand  men  were 


i877.]  OSMAN    PASHA    DECORATED.  183 

on  parade  under  arms,  and  I  was  looking  round 
to  see  what  was  the  matter,  when  I  saw  a  Turkish 
officer  in  gorgeous  uniform  galloping  up  to  the 
headquarters  camp  accompanied  by  a  troop  of 
cavalry.  It  proved  to  be  an  aide-de-camp  of  the 
Sultan,  who  had  come  up  from  Constantinople 
with  an  escort  bearing  despatches  for  Osman 
Pasha.  Soon  all  the  camp  was  in  motion,  and 
as  the  bugles  repeated  the  call  troops  came  pour- 
ing down  to  the  parade-ground  from  the  different 
redoubts  and  the  earthworks  on  the  Janik  Bair 
and  at  Grivitza,  and  formed  up  into  square. 
All  the  field  officers  were  present,  including  Adil 
Pasha,  the  second  in  command.  The  Sultan's 
aide-de-camp  and  some  of  the  officers  went  into 
the  tent  of  Osman  Pasha,  who  presently  ap- 
peared with  the  first  order  of  the  Osmanli,  the 
highest  Turkish  military  decoration,  pinned  upon 
his  breast,  with  the  cordon.  The  aide-de-camp 
read  out  a  special  despatch  from  the  Sultan,  con- 
gratulating Osman  Pasha  upon  his  recent  brilliant 
victory.  He  then  presented  him  with  a  splendid 
sword,  the  hilt  of  which  was  set  in  diamonds,  and 
he  presented  Adil  Pasha  with  a  brace  of  magni- 
ficently mounted  pistols  as  a  token  of  the  Sultan's 
appreciation  of  his  soldierly  qualities.  All  the 
officers  came  forward  with  the  standard-bearers, 
and  Osman  Pasha  then  delivered  a  stirring  address 
to  the  troops.  He  said  that  his  Imperial  Majesty 
the  Sultan  had  done  him  the  honour  of  decora- 


184     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

ting  him  with  the  order  which  he  then  wore,  and 
had  presented  him  with  that  magnificent  sword 
in  token  of  his  pleasure  at  the  decisive  defeat 
which  had  been  inflicted  upon  the  Russians. 
Though  the  Sultan  had  decorated  him  personally, 
yet  the  credit  of  the  victory  did  not  belong  so 
much  to  him  as  to  his  brave  officers  and  troops, 
who,  he  felt  certain,  were  still  eager  and  ready  to 
try  conclusions  again  with  the  enemy.  He  added 
that  the  battle  which  they  had  just  fought  was  not 
to  end  the  campaign.  They  were  fighting  for 
hearths  and  homes,  for  wives  and  children  ;  and 
though  the  fighting  still  in  store  for  them  would 
probably  be  even  more  severe  than  that  which 
they  had  already  gone  through,  still  he  placed 
the  fullest  confidence  in  their  bravery  and  their 
patriotism.  The  troops  all  cheered  their  leader 
lustily,  and  the  ceremony  came  to  an  end  with 
a  great,  united  shout  of  "  La  ilaha  illallah 
Mohammed  Rasul  Allah." 

During  those  days  after  the  second  battle  the 
work  of  fortification  proceeded  with  ceaseless 
activity  under  the  direction  of  Tewfik  Pasha,  who 
was  rapidly  rearing  a  chain  of  redoubts  connected 
by  trenches  and  subterranean  passages  to  bar 
the  passage  of  the  Russian  troops  into  Turkish 
territory.  These  earthworks  were  marvels  of 
intricate  construction,  and  at  this  period  the 
greater  number  of  our  troops  lived  underground 
like  moles,  tunnelling  communications  between 


i877.]  I    CHANGE    MY    QUARTERS.  185 

the  different  redoubts,  the  largest  of  which  was 
the  famous  one  at  Grivitza,  which  contained  four 
thousand  men. 

When  we  had  finished  our  work  with  the 
wounded  and  sent  them  all  away,  I  had  practi- 
cally nothing  to  do,  and  used  to  spend  my  time 
riding  about  the  hills  either  on  Dr.  Robert's 
trotting  pony  or  my  own  charger.  I  got  tired 
of  my  quarters  in  the  Bulgarian  house,  and 
decided  to  flit  to  some  place  more  convenient  to 
the  hospital.  I  found  the  place  I  was  looking 
for  in  another  Bulgarian  house,  situated  in  the 
extreme  north-west  of  the  town  on  the  bank  of 
the  Tutchenitza,  and  within  a  couple  of  minutes' 
walk  of  the  hospital.  It  was  a  remarkable  house, 
for  it  had  no  front  door  and  no  staircase  inside, 
although  it  was  a  two-story  edifice.  There  was 
a  large  yard  at  the  back,  and  in  one  corner  of 
it  was  the  shed,  which  did  duty  for  a  stable. 
I  saw  that  there  was  a  fine  garden  attached  to 
the  house,  and  that  it  was  separated  from  the 
Tutchenitza  by  a  fence.  The  ground  floor  was 
inhabited  by  a  forbidding-looking  Bulgarian  and 
his  family,  and  I  took  possession  of  the  upper 
rooms,  which  were  reached  by  a  flight  of  stone 
steps  from  the  outside.  There  I  installed  myself 
in  the  best  bedroom  as  comfortably  as  possible 
under  the  circumstances,  and  Ahmet,  my  Cir- 
cassian servant,  occupied  an  adjoining  apartment. 
He  had  no  trouble  about  arranging  the  furniture 


1 86     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

in  my  room,  because  there  wasn't  any,  with  the 
exception  of  a  wide  divan  running  round  the 
wall. 

Cordial  hospitality  was    not  at  that  time  the 
strong  point  of  the  average   Bulgarian,  and  my 
host  downstairs    was  an    unusually  surly  person. 
I    was    a   tenant   at  will — that    is  to  say,   at  my 
own  will,  not  at  my  landlord's — but  the  heads  of 
the  household  took  no  more  notice  of  me  than 
if  I    had   been    dead — probably   indeed    not    so 
much.       There   was   one  little    chap,  though,    a 
yellow-haired,  blue-eyed  Bulgarian  boy  of  about 
thirteen,  who  used  occasionally  to  visit  me ;  and 
he   endeavoured   without   success   to   explain   to 
me  his  views  upon  the  position.     I  encouraged 
his  confidences  with  an  eye  to  subsequent  advan- 
tages,   and   reaped   the   reward   in    milk,    which 
the  little  chap  used  to  bring  me  from  his  father's 
dairy    cow.      With    the  addition  of  the  milk  to 
my  daily  fare,  I  was  enabled  to  boil  my  rice  in  a 
new  way  and  to  improve  my  menu  considerably. 
In  the  beautiful  garden  which  surrounded  the 
house  were  some  of  the  most  magnificent  speci- 
mens of  china  asters,   zineas,   and  balsams   that 
I    have   ever   seen.      I    sent   some   of  the   seed 
home  to  Australia,  and  can  still,  even  after  long 
years,    pluck   flowers   which   are    the   lineal   de- 
scendants   of  those    that    bloomed  for   the   first 
time  in  the  blood-stained  soil  of  Plevna.       But 
sometimes  that  garden  produced  another  and  a 


i877-]  TERRIFIC    RAINSTORM.  187 

ghastlier  crop.  About  ten  days  after  the  battle 
we  had  a  terrific  downfall  of  rain.  It  poured 
for  about  twenty-four  hours  in  torrents,  and  the 
Tutchenitza  was  soon  running  a  banker.  Pre- 
sently the  flood-waters  encroached,  and  poured 
across  the  low-lying  flats,  through  the  fence,  and 
over  our  beautiful  garden.  When  the  rain 
stopped  and  the  water  receded,  I  walked  in  the 
garden  one  morning,  and  found  debris  of  all  sorts, 
which  had  been  brought  down  by  the  stream, 
still  sticking  in  my  favourite  gooseberry  bushes. 
Among  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  gathered  there 
was  a  grisly  relic  from  the  battle-field  a  mile  or 
two  away.  It  was  a  human  head,  with  most  of 
the  flesh  worn  off  the  skull  by  the  action  of 
the  water,  and  the  teeth  set  fast  in  a  horrid 
grin.  It  was  impossible  to  say  whether  it  was 
the  head  of  a  Turk  or  a  Russian,  and  I  buried 
it  under  the  gooseberry  bush  where  I  found  it. 
A  day  or  two  after  this  great  rainstorm  I 
rode  out  again  over  the  hills  and  visited  the 
battle-field.  Far  down  on  the  lower  ground, 
where  the  main  Russian  attack  upon  Grivitza 
was  delivered,  I  came  upon  a  gully,  down  which 
the  recent  rains  had  poured  a  miniature  mountain 
torrent.  The  water  had  scooped  away  the  earth 
that  was  thinly  laid  over  the  Russian  dead,  and 
had  robbed  the  shallow  graves  of  the  corpses, 
carrying  the  bones  away  to  the  lowest  lying 
ground,  and  depositing  them  there  to  whiten  in 


1 88     THE  SECOND  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

the  sun.  Hundreds  of  skulls  which  had  been 
separated  from  the  bodies  were  lying  there.  I 
thought  of  the  Kurdish  colonel,  and  of  the  fate 
which  his  Circassian  servant  meted  out  to  the 
wounded  Russian  officer,  and  I  guessed  the  shock- 
ing reason.  These  were  the  heads  of  wounded 
men  whom  the  Circassians  had  decapitated. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE    FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT    AND    LOVTCHA. 

A  Circassian  and  a  Pig — A  Call  on  Olivier  Pain — His  Photo- 
graphs surprise  me — A  View  of  Sydney  Harbour  in  Plevna 
— The  Story  of  a  French  Journalist — A  Lonely  Death  in  the 
Soudan — "The  Butter-making  Prince" — Bulgarian  Fleas — 
The  Expedition  to  Poradim — Going  to  the  Front — An  Ambu- 
lance at  Work— Capture  of  Russian  Guns — A  Diabolical 
Circassian — Attack  on  a  Redoubt — A  General  Retreat — 
Wounded  Men  left  in  the  Redoubt — I  help  them  to  escape — 
An  Exciting  Moment — My  Horse  has  to  carry  Double 
—Death  takes  one  of  the  Riders— Battle  of  Pelischat— The 
March  to  Lovtcha — A  Scrimmage  in  a  Wheat-field — Sleeping 
in  a  Wheat-stock — Weinberger  and  I  are  apprehensive — 
A  Delightful  Surprise — Drawing  a  Covert — Lovtcha  in  the 
Distance — A  Council  of  War — An  Appalling  Sight — Our 
Mutilated  Comrades — The  Sergeant  and  his  Cigarette — 
A  Night  Alarm — Ammunition  Boxes  blow  up — A  Disastrous 
Explosion— Lauri  and  Drew  Gay. 

MY  own  Circassian  servant,  Ahmet,  was  an 
excellent  attendant,  and  I  seldom  had  any  trouble 
with  him.  Once,  however,  an  incident  occurred 
through  which  I  nearly  lost  him.  It  all  arose 
through  a  pig.  Next  door  to  my  quarters,  and 
between  them  and  the  house  occupied  by  Dr. 
Robert,  was  the  residence  of  a  Bulgarian,  who  was 
rather  more  affable  than  most  of  his  compatriots, 
and  [who  allowed  me  to  use  a  right-of-way 

through  his  place  to  get  to  Dr.   Robert's,  so  as 

189 


1 90        FIASCOS  OF    PELISCHAT    AND    LOVTCHA. 

to  avoid  the  necessity  of  going  a  long  way  round. 
I  often  saw  this  Bulgarian  as  I  went  through  his 
garden,  and  one  day  he  told  me  that  he  was 
going  to  kill  a  pig,  and  that  if  I  sent  Ahmet  in 
to  him  he  would  give  him  some  fresh  pork  for 
me.  When  I  conveyed  my  wishes  to  Ahmet,  I 
was  met  by  an  unexpected  obstacle.  Ahmet 
was  a  good  Mussulman,  and  hated  pork  as  the 
devil  hates  holy  water.  He  refused  to  touch  the 
accursed  thing,  and  it  was  in  vain  that  by  turns 
I  bullied  and  entreated,  threatened  and  cajoled 
him  to  fetch  the  material  for  an  appetizing 
plateful  of  pork  chops.  He  positively  refused, 
and  at  last  I  told  him  that  if  he  would  not  obey 
my  orders  I  would  have  to  send  him  back  to  his 
regiment.  This  was  an  unpleasant  alternative, 
for  with  me  he  had  light  duties,  comfortable 
quarters,  plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  and  no  fighting, 
whereas  if  he  were  sent  back  to  his  regiment  he 
would  have  to  spend  long  hours  digging  in  the 
trenches,  with  the  certainty  of  being  sent  under 
fire  on  the  first  reappearance  of  the  Russians. 
In  spite  of  all  this  he  steadily  refused  to  fetch 
the  pork,  and  I  admired  his  steadfastness  so 
much  that  at  last  I  went  and  fetched  it  myself. 
I  took  it  over  to  Dr.  Robert's,  and  we  had  a 
splendid  dinner. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  I  first  met  that 
remarkable  adventurer  Olivier  Pain,  whose 
history  forms  one  of  the  strangest  pages  in  the 


i877-]  A    CALL    ON    OLIVIER    PAIN.  191 

book  of  political  martyrs.  Tewfik  Bey  told  me 
one  morning  that  a  Frenchman  had  arrived  in 
Plevna ;  and  as  I  was  extremely  anxious  for 
some  news  of  the  outside  world,  I  determined  to 
call  on  the  visitor.  He  was  established  in  the 
Bulgarian  house  which  I  had  not  long  quitted, 
and  was  receiving  the  scant  attention  which  the 
black-eyed  daughter  of  the  house  found  time  to 
bestow  upon  him,  and  the  conversational  treat 
which  her  one  remark  "  London"  occasionally 
afforded.  When  I  visited  the  stranger  in  my  old 
well  known  quarters,  I  found  a  tall,  sallow  man, 
apparently  about  twenty-five  years  of  age,  with 
a  small,  pointed  beard,  and  an  air  of  intelligence 
and  almost  of  distinction.  He  was  arranging  his 
few  possessions  in  the  room  when  I  entered  and 
introduced  myself  to  him.  As  my  eyes  wandered 
round  the  room,  I  was  thunderstruck  to  see  this 
Frenchman  pinning  upon  the  wall  a  photograph 
of  Sydney  Harbour,  and  I  asked  him  at  once  i£ 
he  knew  Sydney.  He  replied  that  he  did  ;  and 
when  I  told  him  that  I  was  a  native  of  Melbourne, 
he  said  that  he  had  also  been  in  Melbourne,  and 
knew  it  well.  He  seemed  somewhat  troubled  at 
my  recognition  of  the  photograph,  and  at  last, 
speaking  in  very  tolerable  English,  he  said  to  me, 
"  Sir,  I  have  a  very  high  idea  of  the  honour  of 
an  English  gentleman,  and  I  take  you  to  be  one. 
If  you  will  promise  not  to  betray  me,  I  will  tell 
you  who  I  am." 


FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT    AND    LOVTCHA. 

"  Like  yourself,"  I  replied,  "  I  am  alone  here, 
and  it  does  not  matter  a  straw  to  me  who  you 
are.  You  are  evidently  an  intelligent  and 
educated  man,  and  that  is  quite  enough  for  me." 
Then  he  told  me  that  he  was  Olivier  Pain,  and 
that  during  the  stormy  days  of  1871  in  Paris  he 
had  embraced  the  cause  of  the  Commune,  and  been 
deported  for  life  to  New  Caledonia,  in  company 
with  the  fiery  and  intransigent  Henri  Rochefort. 
He  had  escaped  in  1874  with  Rochefort  to  the 
Australian  coast,  and  had  reached  Sydney  in 
safety,  afterwards  making  his  way  to  Melbourne, 
and  thence  to  America,  where  for  some  time 
he  lay  perdu.  Venturing  back  to  Europe,  how- 
ever, after  many  adventures  he  reached  Geneva, 
and  on  the  outbreak  of  the  Russo-Turkish  war 
was  engaged  as  a  war  correspondent  by  one  of 
the  principal  Geneva  newspapers. 

Now  war  correspondents  were  regarded  with 
the  utmost  distrust  in  Turkey,  while  Osman 
Pasha  positively  hated  them,  and  strict  instruc- 
tions were  given  that  no  stranger  should  be 
allowed  into  Plevna  without  a  special  firman 
from  the  Sultan.  It  was  characteristic  of  the 
audacity  of  Olivier  Pain  that  he  should  have 
made  his  way  from  Constantinople  unprovided 
with  the  necessary  firman,  and  should  have 
"  bluffed  "  himself  into  Plevna,  in  the  belief  that 
among  the  hundreds  of  departing  wounded  men 
and  arriving  reinforcements  his  presence  would 


i877.]  A   FRENCH   JOURNALIST.  193 

not  at  first  be  noticed.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  he  was  noted  at  once,  and  eventually 
had  to  leave  the  town  temporarily  ;  but  for  a 
fortnight  he  continued  to  inhabit  my  old  quarters, 
and  I  saw  a  good  deal  of  him. 

Little  skirmishes  between  our  pickets  and 
the  Russian  vedettes  used  to  occur  from  day 
to  day,  and  Pain  began  to  exercise  his  metier 
as  war  correspondent  at  once,  writing  the 
most  picturesque  descriptive  articles  to  his 
Geneva  newspaper.  I  was  shown  afterwards 
a  copy  of  that  journal,  in  which  a  long  account 
appeared  written  by  him,  and  purporting  to 
be  a  description  of  some  heroic  exploits  per- 
formed by  myself.  Upon  the  slender  foundation 
of  my  participation  in  one  of  the  trifling  cavalry 
skirmishes  which  were  constantly  taking  place, 
he  had  built  up  a  remarkable  narrative,  in  which 
he  portrayed  me,  I  am  afraid  with  more  vividness 
than  veracity,  cutting  down  Russian  troopers 
by  the  score.  However,  fortunately  for  himself, 
Pain  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  everything 
Turkish,  and  he  found  in  Osman  Pasha  a  model 
of  all  the  military  virtues.  It  was  fortunate 
for  him  that  he  adopted  this  view  in  his  letters, 
for  unknown  to  him  they  were  all  opened  and 
read  by  Tewfik  Bey  before  being  despatched 
from  Plevna.  Of  course  Tewfik  Bey  apprised 
his  superior  officer  of  the  contents  of  the  letters, 
and  the  result  was  that  Osman  Pasha's  antipathy 

13 


194         FIASCOS   OF   PELISCHAT  AND   LOVTCHA. 

to  war  correspondents  was  mollified  in  this  parti- 
cular case.  War  correspondents  are  not  usually 
thin-skinned ;  and  when  at  last  it  became  neces- 
sary absolutely  to  turn  Pain  out  of  Plevna 
because  he  had  no  authority  to  be  there,  Osman 
Pasha  himself  gave  him  a  letter  to  the  executive 
in  Constantinople  recommending  that  the  neces- 
sary permission  should  be  given  to  him  to 
return  to  Plevna.  He  was  unable  to  return  at 
once  as  the  road  was  blocked  ;  but  Chefket  Pasha, 
coming  up  in  October  with  fresh  troops,  reopened 
it,  and  with  him  came  back  Olivier  Pain.  He 
survived  all  the  horrors  of  the  fall  of  Plevna,  and 
lived  to  seek  for  new  adventures  in  the  service 
of  the  Mahdi  in  the  Soudan.  The  quixotism  of 
Pain's  politics  was  well  revealed  in  his  con- 
duct in  going  to  the  Soudan  as  a  colleague  of 
Rochefort's,  with  the  idea  that  he  could  assist 
the  Mahdi  against  England,  and  so  injure  the 
traditional  antagonist  of  France.  In  that  book 
of  fascinating  interest  Fire  and  Sword  in  the 
Sudan,  Slatin  Bey  tells  the  story  of  Olivier 
Pain's  appearance  in  the  Mahdi's  camp  while 
his  troops  were  marching  on  Khartoum,  and  of 
his  acceptance  with  suspicion  both  by  the  Mahdi 
and  the  Khalifa.  A  few  days  after  Pain  joined 
in  the  march  he  became  ill  with  fever,  and 
was  placed  on  an  angareb,  or  couch,  slung  upon 
a  donkey.  Growing  weaker  and  weaker,  he 
slipped  at  last  from  the  donkey,  fractured  his 


1877-]  THE    BUTTER-MAKING    PRINCE.  195 

skull,  and  died  miserably  when  the  column  was 
within  three  days'  march  of  Khartoum. 

As  I  knew  him  at  Plevna,  Pain  was  capital 
company.  He  told  us  what  Europe  was  thinking 
of  us  set  there  to  repel  the  repeated  assaults  of 
the  Russians ;  and  he  gave  us  many  stories  of 
wild  life  as  a  political  convict  in  New  Caledonia 
and  a  refugee  ever  since  in  half  the  countries 
of  the  world. 

My   friend    Czetwertinski    had   come    to    stay 
in  my  quarters  as  his   health  was  very  delicate 
and  he  could  not  live  under  canvas ;  so  he  and 
Pain  and  myself  generally  dined   together,   and 
gathered  for  a  smoke  and  a  chat  in  the  evenings. 
One  night  a  slight  contretemps  occurred    which 
came  near  depriving  me  of  one   of  my  friends, 
if  not  both.     Czetwertinski  conceived  the  brilliant 
idea  of  converting  some  of  the  milk  which  the 
Bulgarian   boy   used    to   bring    me   into    butter, 
and   with   this  object   he   extemporized   a  small 
churn   and    turned   himself    into   an    impromptu 
butter  factory.      The   volatile   Frenchman    could 
not   resist   giving   his    communistic   feelings    ex- 
pression, and  he  made  some  remark  about  "  the 
butter-making  prince  "  which  grievously  incensed 
the   haughty   Pole.     An    instant   challenge   to   a 
duel  followed,  and  I    had   the  greatest  difficulty 
in   preventing  my  two  friends  from   exchanging 
shots  according  to  the  recognized  code.     Finally 
I  pacified  them,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 


196         FIASCOS    OF   PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

them  fall  upon  each  other's  necks  in  a  cordial 
embrace.  When  Pain  finally  left  us  in  response 
to  a  peremptory  order  from  headquarters,  he 
bequeathed  his  stock  of  firewood  to  me  as  an 
acknowledgment  of  the  hospitality  which  he  had 
received ;  and  I  secured  possession  of  this 
coveted  luxury  in  spite  of  the  loud  objections 
of  Pain's  Bulgarian  landlord,  who  regarded  the 
wood,  which  was  now  becoming  a  scarce  com- 
modity in  Plevna,  as  his  lawful  perquisite. 

A  curious  superstition  on  the  part  of  the  Turks 
came  under  my  notice  one  night  soon  after  Pain's 
departure.  I  was  tossing  about  feverishly  in  bed, 
suffering  agonies  from  the  assaults  of  the  domestic 
insects  which  in  Bulgaria  attain  to  stupendous 
proportions,  when  I  heard  a  tremendous  volley  of 
guns,  and  for  the  moment  I  believed  that  a  night 
attack  was  taking  place.  However,  after  a  few 
minutes  of  independent  firing,  the  noise  died 
away,  and  I  went  to  sleep  again.  Next  morning 
it  appeared  that  there  had  been  an  eclipse  of  the 
moon  on  the  previous  night,  and  the  townspeople 
were  acting  in  accordance  with  an  ancient  super- 
stition when  they  fired  off  every  available  gun, 
believing  that  in  doing  so  they  would  scare  away 
the  monstrous  animal  which  was  endeavouring 
to  devour  the  silver  queen  of  night.  They  were 
curiously  alive  to  an  empty  superstition,  yet  curi- 
ously insensible  to  hard  facts,  for  they  appeared  to 
tolerate  the  ever-present  annoyance  of  the  insects 


i877.]  EXPEDITION    TO    PORADIM.  197 

with  equanimity.  When  I  resorted  to  the  device 
of  putting  the  legs  of  my  bed  in  vessels  full  of 
water,  so  that  the  fleas  and  other  hopping  and 
crawling  visitors  could  not  climb  up  to  attack 
me,  the  pertinacious  creatures  thought  out  a  way 
to  circumvent  me.  They  simply  crawled  up  the 
wall  and  along  the  ceiling  until  they  were  in  a 
position  to  drop  down  upon  me,  which  they  did. 
It  was  the  most  marked  display  of  reasoning 
power  in  the  lower  creatures  that  ever  forced 
itself  upon  my  notice.  The  only  way  that  I  could 
baffle  the  voracious  crowd  was  by  moving  my 
bed  out  into  the  open  air,  and  this  I  did. 

In  the  forenoon  of  August  31,  while  I  was 
pottering  about  my  hospital,  I  heard  guns  at  a 
distance  of  about  five  miles,  and  jumping  on 
my  horse  I  galloped  off  to  the  headquarters  camp, 
only  to  find  it  deserted.  Information  was  obtain- 
able, however,  showing  that  Osman  Pasha  had 
suddenly  moved  off  eastward  in  the  direction  of 
Poradim  before  daybreak  with  nineteen  battalions 
of  infantry,  three  batteries  of  artillery,  and  all  the 
cavalry  at  his  disposal.  He  had  gone  out  really 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  information  and  ascer- 
taining the  position  of  the  Russians.  It  was  a 
huge  reconnaissance  ending  in  a  battle. 

As  I  had  received  no  orders  to  remain  in  camp, 
I  rode  off  in  the  direction  of  the  firing,  and  after 
going  a  couple  of  miles  I  saw  three  or  four 
mounted  officers.  Fearing  that  I  might  be  sent 


198         FIASCOS   OF    PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

back,  I  went  a  little  aside,  and  passed  them,  as  I 
thought,  unnoticed ;  but  they  speedily  ordered  me 
to  halt,  and  when  I  went  up  to  them  I  found  that 
one  was  Hassib  Bey,  the  principal  medical  officer. 

"  Where  are  you  off  to  in  such  a  hurry  ?  "  he 
said  to  me  ;  "  you  are  the  very  man  we  want." 

I  told  him  that  I  was  anxious  to  see  the  fun, 
and  he  advised  me,  with  a  laugh,  to  curb  my 
ardour,  and  ordered  me  to  remain  with  him. 

We  rode  on  together  for  another  couple  of 
miles,  when  we  came  to  an  ambulance  at  work. 
It  was  the  only  ambulance  that  I  ever  saw  in 
the  field  with  the  Turkish  troops,  and  was  a  very 
simple  affair,  managed  by  four  surgeons,  who  had 
brought  tables,  instruments,  water,  basins,  and 
bandages  with  them.  A  number  of  wounded 
men  were  waiting  to  be  treated,  and  a  long 
stream  of  others  were  coming  in  from  the  direc- 
tion of  the  fighting.  Hassib  Bey  ordered  me  to 
assist  the  other  surgeons  working  at  the  am- 
bulance, and  I  took  up  my  duties  among  the 
wounded  forthwith.  We  were  stationed  on  the 
lee  side  of  a  hill  in  comparative  safety  and  out 
of  the  line  of  fire ;  but  the  battle  was  so  close  to 
us  that  we  could  hear  the  roar  of  the  heavy  guns, 
the  sharp  rattle  of  the  breech-loaders,  and  the 
loud  hurrahs  of  the  troops  engaged. 

Presently  a  rumour  reached  us  that  our  men 
had  captured  two  Russian  guns  on  the  crest  of 
the  long  ridge  between  Pelischat  and  Sgalevitcha 


i877-]  CAPTURE   OF   RUSSIAN    GUNS.  1 99 

and  a  few  minutes  later  those  field-pieces,  which 
were  made  of  bronze  and  were  the  first  Russian 
guns  that  we  had  yet  seen  closely,  were  taken 
past  us  at  a  gallop  by  Turkish  drivers  heading 
for  Plevna.  When  the  wounded  men  who  were 
lying  all  round  us  waiting  for  their  turns  saw  the 
captured  guns,  they  were  excited  to  the  wildest 
enthusiasm.  Many  of  them  rose  to  their  feet  in 
spite  of  their  wounds,  and  many  more  propped 
themselves  up  painfully  on  their  rifles  as  they 
cheered  the  capture  that  had  been  made. 

I  remained  with  the  ambulance  for  several 
hours,  and  the  record  of  work  there  shows  how 
much  can  be  accomplished  in  the  way  of  surgery 
under  active-service  conditions.  I  had  a  small 
chamois-leather  bag  in  my  pocket  which  I  used 
generally  for  carrying  coffee ;  but  I  devoted  it 
on  this  occasion  to  holding  the  bullets  which  I 
extracted  from  my  patients.  I  was  the  only 
operator ;  and  when  the  afternoon's  work  was  done, 
I  counted  nineteen  bullets  in  it — not  a  bad  record 
of  operations  all  performed  within  three  hours. 

If  a  wounded  man  came  in  with  the  bullet  in 
anything  like  a  handy  place  I  whipped  it  out  at 
once,  and  in  no  case  did  we  give  chloroform. 
Most  of  the  men  were  walking  back  or  crawling 
along  as  well  as  they  could,  and  a  few  were  being 
brought  in  on  stretchers  by  their  comrades. 

Among  the  wounded  arrivals  was  an  infantry 
captain  who  was  a  nephew  of  Hassib  Bey.  He 


2OO         FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

was  shot  through  the  calf  of  the  leg,  and  he  was 
able  to  give  us  some  details  of  the  fighting.  He 
told  us  that  the  Turks  had  taken  a  Russian 
redoubt,  or  rather  a  small  entrenchment  fortified 
with  sandbags,  and  that  there  were  a  good  many 
wounded  men  there,  but  no  doctor. 

I  saluted  Hassib  Bey,  and  asked  him  if  I  could 
go  forward. 

"  All  right,"  he  replied,  "  you  can  go ;  but,  for 
goodness'  sake,  take  care  of  yourself." 

I  promised  to  do  so,  and  galloped  off  towards 
the  sound  of  the  fighting.  On  my  way  I  passed 
a  long  string  of  wounded  men  making  their  way 
back  to  the  ambulance,  and  was  able  to  stanch 
their  bleeding  in  many  cases,  and  place  them  in 
a  better  condition  for  continuing  their  journey. 
Presently  I  came  across  several  dead  men,  and 
the  shells  began  to  fly  about.  As  I  advanced 
farther  the  numbers  of  the  dead  increased,  and 
the  bodies  of  several  Russians  among  the  Turks 
marked  the  spot  where  the  fighting  had  been 
hand-to-hand.  Soon  I  saw  the  Russian  camp 
about  a  mile  away.  It  consisted  of  a  number  of 
little  wooden  huts  on  a  slight  slope  in  front  of  the 
village  of  Pelischat,  and  there  were  a  good  many 
tents  as  well.  I  could  see  the  Turkish  troops 
engaged ;  but  as  I  came  up  to  them,  they  were 
beginning  for  the  second  time  to  fall  back  under  a 
hot  fire  from  the  Russians. 

The  country  was  very  open,  and  lightly  timbered, 


I877-]  A   DIABOLICAL   CIRCASSIAN.  2OI 

with  here  and  there  a  few  beeches  and  walnut 
trees,  under  which  little  groups  of  wounded  men 
were  resting  on  their  way  to  the  rear.  It  was 
plain  that  the  Russians  had  recently  occupied 
the  ground  which  our  troops  at  this  moment 
were  holding,  for  lying  on  the  plain  were  many 
wounded  Russians  who  had  been  left  behind 
when  their  regiments  fell  back,  and  those  hapless 
creatures  received  short  shrift  from  the  irregular 
troops  fighting  under  the  Turkish  flag. 

One  instance  of  the  savagery  with  which  the 
conflict  was  conducted  I  witnessed  personally ; 
and  though  it  shows  the  Turkish  irregulars  in 
very  lurid  colours,  I  can  vouch  for  the  perform- 
ance of  similar  and  even  worse  atrocities  on  the 
part  of  the  Cossacks  a  few  days  later. 

As  I  was  looking  at  the  firing  and  wondering 
how  much  longer  our  men  would  be  able  to  hold 
the  advantage  which  they  had  gained,  I  saw  a 
Circassian,  with  a  most  diabolical  expression  on 
his  face,  stooping  down  to  pluck  some  of  the 
long  grass  that  grew  there  abundantly  and  wiping 
his  earner,  or  short  sharp  sword,  upon  it.  I 
rode  up  to  see  what  he  was  doing,  and  found 
that  he  had  just  cut  the  head  off  an  unfortunate 
wounded  Russian.  The  headless  trunk,  still 
quivering  with  muscular  contractions,  lay  on  the 
ground  at  his  feet,  and  he  was  holding  up  his 
horrid  trophy  by  the  hair. 

I  rode  on  to  the  small  earthwork  which  our  men 


202          FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

had  captured.  The  regiment  which  had  taken 
it  still  held  possession,  and  the  Russian  troops 
were  advancing  in  strong  force  to  recapture 
it.  I  gathered  that  desperate  fighting  had 
gone  on  here,  and  that  the  redoubt  had  already 
been  captured  and  recaptured  two  or  three 
times.  The  men  who  were  then  holding  it 
were  the  remnant  of  the  attacking  party,  and 
when  I  was  about  a  hundred  yards  from  the 
fortified  spot  I  passed  an  immense  number 
of  Turkish  dead.  They  were  the  first  company 
in  the  column  of  assault  which  perished  to  a 
man.  The  Russians  in  the  redoubt  must  have 
reserved  their  fire,  for  nearly  every  man  of  the 
first  company  had  five  or  six  bullets  through 
him.  The  redoubt  itself  was  full  of  dead  and 
dying  men,  and  the  Russians,  having  rallied, 
were  already  coming  back  beyond  their  foremost 
line,  being  within  about  five  hundred  yards  of  the 
redoubt.  It  was  plain  that  if  our  men  did  not 
retire  they  would  be  annihilated,  and  they  began 
to  fall  back  in  good  order,  taking  as  many  of  the 
wounded  with  them  as  possible. 

One  of  the  first  men  I  saw  was  Czetwertinski, 
who  was  captain  in  a  cavalry  troop.  He  told 
me  that  a  few  minutes  before  I  arrived  his 
horse  had  been  killed  under  him  by  a  shell 
which  ripped  the  animal's  side  open.  So  perished 
the  magnificent  black  charger  which  no  man  in 
the  squadron  could  ride  but  Czetwertinski ;  the 


i877.]  IN    THE    REDOUBT.  2O3 

horse  to  whom  he  really  owed  his  commission. 
Czetwertinski  had  been  left  unmounted  for  a 
minute  or  two  ;  but  he  speedily  took  the  horse 
ridden  by  his  servant  Faizi,  who  had  to  find 
his  way  back  as  best  he  could. 

The  shells  began  to  come  pretty  thickly 
among  us,  and  the  Russian  gunners  were  making 
very  fair  practice.  I  saw  a  Turkish  regiment 
lying  down  close  by  some  trees,  when  a  couple 
of  shells  exploded  almost  simultaneously  among 
them,  killing  seven  men  and  wounding  many 
more,  whom  I  attended  on  the  spot. 

Osman  Pasha  with  Tewfik  Bey  and  his  staff 
were  there  in  the  thick  of  it.  The  commander- 
in-chief  had  had  three  horses  shot  under  him 
that  day.  Presently  our  men  began  to  retire 
in  earnest,  under  a  perfect  storm  of  shot  and 
shell  from  the  returning  Russians.  All  our 
wounded  men  had  been  got  away  except  two 
who  were  left  behind  in  the  redoubt.  I  saw 
them  there,  and,  realizing  what  their  fate  would 
be  when  the  Russians  should  have  retaken  the 
redoubt,  I  decided  to  make  an  effort  to  save 
them.  I  got  into  the  redoubt,  and  found  that 
one  of  the  men  had  been  shot  through  the  neck 
by  a  rifle-bullet.  He  was  bleeding  terribly,  and 
was  already  blanched  to  the  colour  of  death. 
The  other  man  had  been  struck  in  the  left  thigh 
by  a  fragment  of  shell  which  had  shattered  the 
bone.  I  got  them  both  out,  and  managed  to 


2O4         FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

get  the  man  who  was  shot  in  the  neck  upon 
my  horse.  I  placed  him  in  the  saddle,  and  I 
put  the  man  with  the  shattered  leg  up  behind 
him.  I  held  the  second  man  in  position  with 
my  right  hand,  and  led  the  horse  by  the  bridle 
with  the  left.  The  man  with  the  broken  leg 
was  suffering  terrible  agony,  but  he  held  up  his 
comrade  in  front  of  him  and  prevented  him 
from  falling  off  In  this  way  we  started  to  rejoin 
our  troops,  who  were  now  nearly  half  a  mile 
away,  retreating  slowly  and  firing  as  they  went. 
The  Russians  were  within  about  four  hundred 
yards  of  the  redoubt  when  I  left  it  with  the 
two  wounded  men  and  the  horse. 

The  Russians  were  pouring  in  a  hot  fire  on 
our  retreating  troops,  and  our  men  were  answering 
at  intervals,  so  that  I  was  caught  between  two 
fires.  I  could  hear  the  Russian  shells  screaming 
over  my  head  as  I  made  my  way  back.  Our 
pace  was  necessarily  slow,  for  I  had  to  walk  the 
horse  all  the  way,  and  to  take  the  utmost  care 
lest  the  men  should  fall  off  When  we  had  got 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  redoubt,  the  man  in 
front  fell  off  the  horse  dead,  and  I  left  him  there. 
I  put  the  other  man  into  the  saddle  ;  and  after 
a  period  that  seemed  like  a  lifetime,  I  reached 
our  foremost  lines  and  went  on  through  them, 
and  out  of  the  line  of  fire,  without  having 
received  a  scratch. 

We  saw  several  regiments  of  Russian  cavalry 


i877.]  BATTLE    OF    PELISCHAT.  205 

detach  themselves  from  the  main  body  and  come 
galloping  down  as  if  to  cut  off  our  retreat ;  so  our 
officers  ordered  the  field-guns  into  action,  and  we 
opened  a  destructive  shell  fire  on  them  which 
stopped  their  pursuit.  The  main  body  of  the 
Russians  also  drew  back,  and  did  not  pursue  us 
farther ;  so  that  without  further  misadventure 
we  reached  the  site  of  the  field  ambulance,  and 
I  placed  my  man  in  one  of  the  waggons  after 
bandaging  up  his  leg.  When  I  took  him  off  the 
saddle,  I  noticed  a  little  pyramid  of  clotted  blood, 
about  three  or  four  inches  high,  on  the  horse's 
wither.  It  had  been  caused  by  the  slow  drip- 
drip  from  the  neck  of  the  first  man  before  he 
fell  off  dead. 

I  stopped  at  the  field-ambulance  depot  attend- 
ing to  the  wounded  men  until  about  six  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  when  we  all  cleared  off  and  went 
back  to  Plevna.  This  was  the  battle  of  Pelis- 
chat,  otherwise  named  Sgalevitcha.  We  had 
about  one  thousand  three  hundred  men  killed 
and  wounded,  and  we  had  gained  absolutely 
nothing.  I  never  could  understand  the  exact 
object  of  this  sortie  from  Plevna,  since  even 
if  we  had  succeeded  in  capturing  the  Pelis- 
chat-Sgalevitcha  position  we  could  never  have 
held  it. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  September  4  an 
orderly  came  to  my  quarters  before  I  was  up,  and 
said  to  me,  "  At  eleven  o'clock  you  will  see  some 


2O6         FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

troops  advancing  by  the  Lovtcha  road,  and  you 
will  follow  them." 

I  asked  him  where  they  were  going,  and  he  said 
that  he  did  not  know.  I  inquired  how  long  we 
were  likely  to  be  away,  and  he  said  that  he  had 
no  idea,  adding  that  I  had  better  take  my  instru- 
ments with  me  because  I  should  probably  want 
them. 

After  I  had  done  my  work  at  the  hospital,  I 
went  up  to  the  headquarters  camp,  and  found 
that  Osman  Pasha  and  a  number  of  officers, 
Hassan  Labri  Pasha,  Emin  Bey,  Tahir  Pasha, 
Tewfik  Bey,  Osman  Bey,  and  Yalaat  Bey,  with 
sixteen  battalions  and  three  batteries,  were  march- 
ing out  along  the  Lovtcha  road,  and  I  joined 
them  at  once.  About  a  mile  from  Plevna  on 
this  road  were  some  large  vineyards  laden  with 
clusters  of  ripe  grapes,  which  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  our  troops  some  days  before  this.  In 
fact,  the  Turkish  soldiers,  in  their  desire  to  get 
the  ripe  fruit,  had  been  in  the  habit  of  stealing 
out  by  night  past  our  vedettes  into  the  vine- 
yards, and  several  of  them  had  been  shot  by  the 
Russian  outposts  ;  strict  orders  had  accordingly 
been  given  to  the  troops  to  refrain  from  indulging 
their  appetite  for  grapes  under  the  circumstances, 
and  the  Turkish  sentries  had  been  instructed  to 
shoot  any  men  who  attempted  to  pass  them 
during  the  night  for  the  purpose  of  getting  into 
the  vineyards. 


i877']  THE    MARCH    TO    LOVTCHA.  2Of 

When,  however,  we  were  marching  out  towards 
Lovtcha  in  the  daytime,  it  was  impossible  to  keep 
the  troops  out  of  the  vineyards  ;  and  many  of  the 
men  who  had  not  been  too  plentifully  supplied 
with  rations  for  some  time  past  gorged  them- 
selves with  fruit  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
became  ill  with  dysentery,  and  I  had  to  attend  to 
them.  On  the  outskirts  of  Plevna  also  I  noticed 
many  Turkish  professional  beggars  who  pestered 
the  troops  for  money ;  and  as  it  was  considered 
lucky  to  give  something  in  charity  before  going 
into  action,  the  soldiers  were  very  liberal,  and 
the  beggars  reaped  a  rich  harvest  of  piastres. 

Almost  as  soon  as  we  were  well  clear  of  Plevna 
and  out  into  the  open  country,  we  fell  in  with 
some  Russian  cavalry  vedettes,  and  began  a 
period  of  intermittent  fighting  which  continued 
all  that  day.  When  the  vedettes  saw  that  we 
were  in  strong  force,  they  fell  back  upon  a  field 
where  the  corn  had  been  cut  and  stood  piled  up 
at  intervals  in  stocks.  It  was  quite  interesting 
to  watch  them  dodging  for  cover  from  one  stook 
to  another,  while  our  men  tried  to  pick  them  off 
with  their  rifles.  A  good  many  of  the  Cossacks 
fell  in  the  wheat-field,  and  the  remainder  were 
driven  back  without  difficulty.  Hardly  had  we 
got  rid  of  those,  however,  when  three  or  four 
Russian  infantry  regiments  put  in  an  appearance 
with  a  couple  of  batteries  of  artillery,  and  opened 
fire  on  us.  We  were  drawn  up  in  very  open 


2O8         FIASCOS   OF   PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

order,  and  Osman  Pasha  sent  a  couple  of 
batteries  up  to  the  crest  of  some  rising  ground, 
and  we  started  to  shell  the  enemy,  still  con- 
tinuing to  push  forward  with  the  main  body. 
There  was  a  small  creek  to  cross,  and  we  had  a 
hard  task  to  get  the  guns  over  the  bridge  under 
a  heavy  fire  from  the  Russians.  It  was  very 
exciting  work  ;  and  as  Tewfik  Bey  was  directing 
the  passage  of  the  bridge,  his  horse  was  killed 
under  him  by  a  shell.  At  last,  however,  we  got 
safely  over,  just  as  it  was  growing  dusk,  and 
sending  out  skirmishers  in  front  we  continued 
to  advance.  The  firing  went  on  for  some  hours, 
sudden  sheets  of  flame  appearing  on  both  sides 
in  the  twilight  as  the  opposing  troops  dis- 
charged volley  after  volley  ;  but  our  casualties 
were  very  few,  and  at  last  there  was  a  cessation 
of  hostilities. 

We  camped  in  a  wheat-field  which  had  just 
been  reaped,  and  Weinberger  and  I  sat  all  night 
in  one  of  the  stooks,  holding  our  horses.  We  had 
no  rations  with  us ;  but  I  had  had  a  good  feed 
of  grapes  in  the  morning,  and  with  some  cobs 
of  maize  that  I  had  put  in  my  pocket  before 
starting  we  managed  to  satisfy  our  hunger.  As 
we  squatted  in  the  stook  together,  Weinberger 
and  I  discussed  the  situation  seriously,  and  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  by  no  means 
reassuring.  In  point  of  fact  we  made  up  our 
minds  that  our  last  hour  was  all  but  come,  for 


1877-]  THE    FALL    OF    LOVTCHA.  2OQ 

we  made  sure  that  before  morning  the  Russians 
would  bring  up  their  troops  and  we  should  have 
to  be  struck  by  a  flank  attack.  Our  communi- 
cation with  Plevna  would  no  doubt  be  cut  off 
during  the  night,  and  we  apprehended  that  when 
the  morning  came  our  force  would  probably  be 
annihilated.  When  day  broke,  however,  we 
looked  out  of  our  stock,  and  found  to  our  intense 
relief  that  there  was  not  a  Russian  in  sight 
anywhere.  It  was  the  most  beautiful  morning 
that  I  remember  to  have  ever  seen ;  and  after 
the  bare  hills  round  Plevna  and  the  narrow 
streets  of  the  town,  the  well  timbered,  undulating 
country  was  a  delightful  sight. 

The  march  was  resumed  soon  after  daybreak, 
and  it  must  have  been  midday  before  we  halted 
in  the  doghole  Bulgarian  village  of  Kakrinka,  a 
little  distance  eastward  of  Lovtcha.  A  number 
of  pigs  belonging  to  the  fugitive  villagers  were 
roaming  about  among  the  empty  cottages,  and 
the  Circassians,  who,  like  all  good  Mussulmen, 
regard  the  pig  as  a  filthy  and  abominable 
creature,  showed  their  religious  zeal  by  shooting 
several  of  them.  On  the  outskirts  of  the  village 
we  met  a  Bulgarian  woman  with  two  children, 
and  from  her  we  learnt  the  fatal  news  that 
Lovtcha  had  fallen  two  days  before.  Our  march 
from  Plevna  had  been  with  the  object  of  relieving 
Rifaat  Pasha,  who  commanded  the  garrison  at 
Lovtcha ;  but  we  had  arrived  too  late,  for  he 


2IO        FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT   AND    LOVTCHA. 

had  been  attacked  by  an  overwhelming  Russian 
force,  and  the  Turkish  troops  in  Lovtcha  had 
been  cut  to  pieces. 

What  had  happened  was  this.  Skobeleft  had 
advanced  upon  Lovtcha  on  September  i,  with 
about  twenty-one  thousand  men  and  eighty-four 
guns,  exclusive  of  the  Cossacks  and  their  batteries. 
Aware  that  he  was  vastly  outnumbered,  Rifaat 
Pasha  had  sent  an  urgent  request  to  Osman 
Pasha  in  Plevna  for  immediate  assistance ;  but 
the  commander-in-chief  apparently  considered  that 
the  Lovtcha  position  could  hold  out  for  a  few 
days,  and  delayed  to  send  reinforcements  at  once. 

During  the  night  of  September  i,  Skobeleff  had 
thrown  up  entrenchments  and  established  batteries 
on  a  hill  two  miles  from  Lovtcha,  and  opened 
fire  early  on  the  morning  of  the  2nd  upon  the 
position.  Later  in  the  day  the  main  Russian 
body  had  come  up,  and  thrown  up  entrenchments 
to  prepare  for  the  general  attack,  which  took 
place  on  September  3.  After  three  hours  of 
desperate  fighting,  the  position  was  carried,  and 
the  Turks  withdrew  their  left  wing  across  the 
river  Osma.  The  attack  on  the  second  Turkish 
position  was  then  commenced,  and  the  citadel  of 
Lovtcha  was  at  last  carried  by  Skobeleff  and  his 
Russians,  after  a  general  rush  from  all  sides  late 
in  the  evening. 

Most  of  the  Turkish  fugitives  had  already 
fled  towards  Mikren,  twelve  miles  south-west  of 


I877-]  LOVTCHA    IN    THE    DISTANCE.  211 

Lovtcha,  hotly  pursued  by  Cossacks  and  artillery. 
Cut  down  by  the  Cossacks  or  killed  by  Russian 
shells,  the  Turkish  force  was  practically  wiped 
out.  Ignorant  of  the  details,  however,  and  know- 
ing only  the  bare  fact  that  Lovtcha  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Russians,  we  pressed  on  towards 
the  position  ;  and  when  we  were  about  five  miles 
from  Lovtcha,  we  saw  a  couple  of  regiments  of 
cavalry  and  a  regiment  of  infantry  drawn  up  on 
the  bank  of  the  Osma.  They  advanced  over  the 
plain  to  meet  us ;  and  as  we  were  well  posted 
on  a  fairly  high  eminence,  we  opened  fire  on 
them  with  artillery.  I  saw  one  of  the  shells 
drop  right  in  the  middle  of  a  squadron  of  cavalry, 
and  five  or  six  men  with  their  horses  were  all 
down  on  the  ground  together. 

Under  the  stress  of  the  artillery  fire  the  cavalry 
scattered  and  retired,  some  remaining  to  pick 
up  their  wounded.  We  continued  to  fire  upon 
these,  and  killed  about  twenty-five  or  thirty  more 
of  them.  Below  the  eminence  upon  which  our 
troops  were  drawn  up  was  a  wood  of  dwarf  oaks, 
walnuts,  and  beeches  running  down  into  the 
plain  which  form  the  valley  of  the  Osma  ;  and 
Osman  Pasha,  believing  that  a  Russian  force  was 
concealed  in  the  wood,  sent  down  a  couple  of 
battalions  to  clear  it. 

I  sat  on  my  horse  on  the  top  of  the  hill, 
and  watched  this  interesting  operation.  There 
were  little  open  spaces  here  and  there  in 


212        FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT   AND    LOVTCHA. 

the  wood,  and  I  could  see  the  red  fezzes  of 
the  soldiers  bobbing  about  among  the  trees  as 
they  worked  the  cover  exactly  like  a  pack  of 
foxhounds.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  shouting 
and  indiscriminate  firing,  and  we  all  expected  to 
see  the  Russians  bolting  out  of  the  wood  on 
the  other  side.  It  was  intensely  exciting  ;  but 
at  last  we  saw  the  fezzes  emerging  on  the  far 
side  of  the  wood,  and  we  realized  that  they  had 
drawn  it  blank.  There  was  not  a  Russian  in 
the  place ;  but  I  had  three  wounded  Turks  to 
attend  to  who  had  been  shot  by  their  own 
comrades  when  the  promiscuous  firing  was 
going  on  in  the  wood. 

As  we  looked  over  upon  Lovtcha  from  the  hill 
where  we  were  halted,  the  town  appeared  as  if 
it  was  on  the  stage  of  a  vast  theatre,  while  we 
were  in  the  dress  circle.  Below  us  was  a  long 
green  plain  with  the  silver  thread  of  the  river 
Osma  meandering  through  it,  and  farther  away 
was  the  town  of  Lovtcha  nestling  in  the  ranges. 
On  the  banks  of  the  river  were  two  Bulgarian 
villages,  and  we  could  see  Russian  troops  in 
both  of  them. 

Osman  Pasha  held  a  council  of  war  on  the 
top  of  the  hill,  and  all  the  principal  officers 
attended,  the  question  debated  being  whether  an 
attempt  should  be  made  to  recapture  Lovtcha 
or  not.  The  general  opinion  was  that  it  was 
inadvisable  to  make  the  attempt,  and  Hassan 


I8/7-]  AN    APPALLING    SIGHT.  213 

Labri  Pasha  alone  was  in  favour  of  an  attack.  At 
last,  after  discussing  all  the  arguments  for  and 
against,  it  was  decided  not  to  attack  such  a  strong 
position  occupied  by  an  immensely  superior  force  ; 
and  Osman  Pasha,  much  against  his  will,  was 
obliged  to  order  a  return  to  Plevna. 

Meanwhile  our  cavalry  and  Circassians  were 
sent  down  the  hill  to  make  a  reconnaissance,  and 
I  went  with  them.  After  going  some  little 
distance,  we  came  across  a  ghastly  evidence  of 
the  ferocity  of  the  fighting,  for  we  counted  nearly 
four  hundred  Turks  all  lying  dead  together. 
They  had  apparently  tried  to  break  away  when 
Lovtcha  fell,  and  had  been  cut  down  by  the 
Cossacks  when  making  a  last  stand  under  the 
walnut  trees.  Every  corpse  was  fearfully  dis- 
figured. The  faces  had  been  slashed  with  sabres 
even  after  death,  and  the  corpses  had  been 
subjected  to  the  horrible  indignities  which  are 
usually  supposed  to  be  practised  only  by  the  hill 
tribes  of  Afghanistan.  Whether  those  atrocities 
were  committed  by  the  Russians  or  by  the 
Bulgarians  I  could  not  definitely  determine ; 
but  the  sight  enraged  the  Circassians  to  an 
appalling  extent,  and  their  threats  boded  ill  for 
any  Russians  who  might  fall  into  their  hands 
alive. 

It  was  impossible  for  the  column  to  return 
to  Plevna  by  the  same  way  that  it  had  come, 
because  we  knew  that  the  Russians  had  seized 


214        FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

some  important  positions  on  the  road,  fortified 
them  with  earthworks,  and  brought  up  their 
artillery.  Consequently  Osman  Pasha  decided  to 
make  a  detour  ;  and  as  Lovtcha  was  about  due 
south  of  Plevna,  we  headed  at  first  in  a  westerly 
direction  and  gradually  worked  round  to  the 
north. 

It  was  an  intensely  hot  day,  and  we  all  suffered 
severely  from  thirst,  having  been  without  water 
for  several  hours.  I  managed  to  find  a  pool  of 
dirty  water,  however,  and  I  drank  as  much  as 
I  could,  not  knowing  when  the  next  opportunity 
for  a  drink  might  arrive.  As  for  food,  all  that 
we  had  consisted  of  the  cobs  of  maize  that  we 
gathered  in  the  fields  as  we  passed. 

Later  in  the  afternoon,  however,  we  had  another 
meal  with  a  different  menu.  As  I  passed  through 
a  Bulgarian  village  with  an  advance  party  of 
Circassians,  we  came  to  a  farmhouse  on  the  top 
of  a  ridge  well  timbered  with  walnut  trees.  The 
Circassians  made  a  hurried  investigation  of  the 
premises,  and  then  set  fire  to  some  outbuildings 
which  were  thatched  with  straw.  They  had 
found  a  hive  of  bees  in  the  shed,  and  calmly 
burnt  the  place  down  to  smoke  them  out,  so 
that  we  secured  an  excellent  meal  of  walnuts 
and  honey. 

Osman  Pasha  was  very  strict  in  putting  down 
pillaging,  and  an  instance  occurred  on  the  same 
afternoon  of  the  severity  with  which  he  punished 


1877.]  A    NIGHT   ALARM.  215 

any  infraction  of  orders  in  that  respect.  As  the 
column  passed  through  one  of  the  small  Bulgarian 
villages  which  were  sprinkled  at  frequent  intervals 
along  the  line  of  route,  a  small  field  of  tobacco 
enclosed  by  a  brushwood  fence  was  espied,  and  a 
Turkish  sergeant  who  was  pining  for  a  cigarette 
could  not  resist  the  temptation,  but  climbed 
through  the  fence  and  filled  his  pockets  with 
the  dry  leaf.  Osman  Pasha  happened  to  see  the 
incident ;  and,  putting  his  horse  at  the  fence,  he 
jumped  over  into  the  tobacco-field,  seized  the 
sergeant  and  tore  the  stripes  from  his  shoulder, 
degrading  him  to  the  ranks  for  his  insubordination. 

After  we  had  marched  about  five  miles  beyond 
the  farmhouse  where  we  had  got  the  honey,  we 
camped  for  the  night,  and  a  very  unpleasant  night 
it  was.  The  bivouac  was  pitched  in  the  middle 
of  a  wide  expanse  of  swampy  ground,  which  was 
so  moist  that  the  water  oozed  through  as  one  sat 
on  the  grass.  I  procured  a  plank,  and  lay  on  it 
all  night,  snatching  a  few  minutes  of  fitful  slumber 
at  intervals. 

At  about  eleven  o'clock  I  was  roused  by  a 
terrific  rattle  of  infantry  fire,  and  we  all  leaped 
to  our  feet  firmly  convinced  that  the  long  expected 
Russian  attack  had  come  at  last.  All  was  con- 
fusion as  the  men  hastily  threw  themselves  into 
formation  and  rammed  the  cartridges  into  their 
rifles  ;  but  the  firing  stopped  as  unexpectedly  as 
it  had  begun,  and  we  were  left  staring  into  the 


2l6        FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT   AND    LOVTCHA. 

darkness  in  anxious  suspense.  Soon  we  dis- 
covered that  it  was  a  false  alarm.  A  white  horse 
which  had  been  wounded  in  the  fighting  round 
Lovtcha  had  dragged  himself  painfully  all  the 
way  from  that  vicinage  after  our  column,  recog- 
nizing the  bugle  calls  of  the  army  to  which  he 
belonged.  But  the  poor  brute  paid  the  penalty 
of  devotion,  for  our  sentries  mistook  him  in  the 
darkness  for  a  Russian  vedette,  and  an  alarm  was 
sounded  which  brought  about  a  volley  of  musketry 
fire  that  put  him  out  of  his  pain  at  once. 

Next  morning  the  column  started  very  early, 
and  marched  through  beautifully  timbered,  un- 
dulating country.  We  saw  a  couple  of  Russian 
vedettes  galloping  away  from  one  of  the  Bulgarian 
villages,  and  guessed  that  the  enemy  were  in  the 
neighbourhood.  But  they  kept  out  of  our  way, 
and  did  not  provoke  an  engagement. 

At  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  as  I  was 
riding  with  the  Circassians  in  front  of  a  battery 
of  field  artillery,  I  heard  a  terrific  explosion,  and, 
looking  round,  saw  a  column  of  smoke  behind 
me  fully  a  hundred  feet  in  height.  There 
were  a  number  of  small  black  fragments  falling 
through  the  smoke,  and  I  found  that  an  explosion 
had  taken  place  in  one  of  the  gun  carriages.  The 
ammunition  had  gone  off  in  some  mysterious  way, 
and  the  black  fragments  falling  through  the  air 
were  all  that  was  left  of  the  two  unfortunate 
gunners  who  had  been  sitting  on  the  ammunition 


i877.]  LAURI   AND    DREW   GAY.  21 7 

box.  Both  the  wheel  horses  were  killed  on  the 
spot,  and  one  of  the  drivers  was  badly  injured. 
No  one  ever  knew  how  that  mysterious  explosion 
occurred.  That  night  we  camped  in  the  open 
again,  and  at  eleven  o'clock  next  morning  we 
arrived  at  Plevna.  I  went  to  my  quarters,  had 
a  wash,  and  then  resumed  my  work  at  the  hospital. 
But  there  was  not  much  to  do,  and  at  two  o'clock 
I  was  free  to  take  a  walk  through  the  town. 

To  my  intense  surprise  I  saw  a  man  who 
looked  like  an  Englishman ;  and  as  I  had  not 
seen  an  Englishman  for  several  months,  I  shouted 
to  him,  half  in  Turkish  and  half  in  English,  to 
ask  him  who  he  was.  He  proved  to  be  a  man 
called  Drew  Gay,  the  correspondent  of  the 
London  Daily  Telegraph,  and  he  wore  an  extra- 
ordinary nondescript  get-up,  including  a  little 
forage  cap,  patent  leather  riding-boots,  and  an 
enormous  cavalry  sword.  He  was  on  his  way 
to  pay  a  visit  to  the  kaimakan,  and  was  accom- 
panied by  a  German  artist  named  Lauri. 

This  little  Lauri  was  a  charming  fellow,  and 
full  of  the  spirit  of  adventure.  He  was  a  great 
friend  of  Hamdi  Bey,  who  was  the  son  of 
Edim  Pasha,  the  grand  vizier,  and  in  this  way 
he  was  able  to  exercise  sufficient  influence  to 
secure  a  firman  authorizing  him  to  visit  Plevna. 
Lauri  had  lived  in  Cairo  for  some  time,  and 
had  earned  some  notoriety  by  painting  a  portrait 
of  the  Khedive. 


2l8        FIASCOS    OF    PELISCHAT  AND    LOVTCHA. 

Next  day  occurred  the  third  and  greatest 
battle  of  Plevna — a  battle  in  which  the  enormous 
value  of  the  breech-loader  when  backed  by  en- 
trenchments was  fully  demonstrated,  as  were  also 
the  magnificent  pluck  and  endurance  of  the 
Turkish  troops. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

The  Third  Battle  of  Plevna— Turkish  Genius  for  Fortification- 
How  the  Redoubts  were  built— Description  of  an  Earth- 
work— Sleeping  Underground — Living  Men  in  Holes  in  the 
Clay — The  Triple  Tier  of  Fire— Commencement  of  the 
Battle— The  "Mammoth  Battery "— Lauri  and  the  Live 
Shell— Radishevo  on  Fire— The  General  Assault— Turkish 
Civilians  join  in  the  Fight — Attack  on  the  Grivitza  Redoubt 
— The  Brushwood  Shelter  takes  Fire— I  visit  the  Redoubt— 
The  Sight  from  the  Parapet— A  Word  to  Sadik  Pasha— 
I  ride  towards  Krishin — Turkish  Fugitives  from  our 
Redoubt — A  Compliment  from  a  Civilian — Panic  among  the 
Troops — Fall  of  the  Grivitza  Redoubt  and  Capture  of  Two 
Krishin  Redoubts  by  Skobeleff—  The  Counter-attacks- 
Parapets  of  Dead  Bodies — Tewfik  Bey  Invincible — The 
Krishin  Redoubts  recaptured — A  Glorious  Victory — 
Delirious  Excitement — Russian  Sortie  from  the  Grivitza 
Redoubt — Repulsed  with  Terrible  Slaughter — Hospital 
Work  heavy  once  more — Some  Stoical  Sufferers — Russian 
Bravery — Osman  Pasha  and  the  Wounded — Departure  of 
Drew  Gay  to  run  the  Gauntlet — A  War  Correspondent  and 
his  News — Perilous  Ride  from  Plevna. 

THOSE  two  factors  in  the  Turkish  defence,  viz. 
rapid  rifle  fire  and  complete  field  fortification, 
were  justly  regarded  by  the  Russian  general, 
Todleben,  the  principal  defender  of  Sevastopol,  to 
have  been  the  chief  causes  of  the  overwhelming 
defeat  of  the  Russians  in  the  third  battle  of 
Plevna. 

219 


22O      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

During  the  six  weeks  which  had  elapsed  since 
we  entered  Plevna  from  Widdin,  I  had  plenty 
of  opportunities  of  watching  the  natural  genius 
of  the  Turks  for  fortification  unfold  itself.  The 
pick  and  the  spade  were  never  idle  night  or  day 
since  our  tired  troops  first  camped  on  the  Janik 
Bair ;  and  now  on  the  eve  of  the  great  battle 
the  splendid  result  of  their  labours  was  apparent. 

Plevna  was  defended  by  a  line  of  earthworks 
of  tremendous  strength,  drawing  a  ring  of  fire 
almost  completely  round  the  town.  The  chain 
of  redoubts  extended  in  the  form  of  a  horseshoe, 
the  toe  of  which,  pointing  due  east,  was  formed 
by  the  Grivitza  redoubt,  while  one  heel  was  at 
Opanetz  in  the  north,  and  the  other  at  Krishin 
in  the  south.  Plevna  itself  lay,  as  it  were,  in 
the  "  frog  "  of  the  foot,  the  nearest  earthworks 
on  either  side  being  the  Bukova  redoubts  on  the 
north,  and  a  double  redoubt  facing  the  "  Green 
Hills"  and  dominating  a  long  stretch  of  sloping 
vineyard  on  the  south.  It  was  round  the 
Grivitza  redoubt  in  the  toe  of  the  horseshoe, 
and  this  double  redoubt  close  into  Plevna  in 
the  heel,  that  the  fiercest  fighting  of  the  whole 
protracted  series  of  engagements  was  centred. 

In  six  weeks  the  Turkish  troops,  under  the 
direction  of  Tewfik  Bey,  had  constructed  the 
most  elaborate  and  perfect  system  of  field 
fortification  that  the  world  had  ever  seen — a 
system  which  utterly  routed  the  old  military 


1877-1  TURKISH    FORTIFICATIONS.  221 

idea  that  a  bold  and  well  reinforced  attack  must 
always  succeed  against  a  defended  position. 
It  may  be  as  well  to  briefly  describe  the  main 
features  in  the  construction  of  these  works  as 
they  appeared  to  an  untechnical  observer. 

The  usual  type  of  redoubt  was  a  large  quad- 
rangular fort,  the  walls  of  which  were  about 
seven  feet  high  on  the  outside,  and  about 
twenty  feet  in  thickness,  the  earth  of  which 
the  walls  were  formed  being  a  stiff  loam,  admir- 
ably suited  for  the  work.  Field-pieces  were 
mounted  inside  the  fort  and  fired  through 
embrasures  protected  by  bonnettes.  The 
troops  fired  over  the  top  of  the  parapet  from 
a  banquette  reached  by  steps  from  the  floor  which 
was  excavated  below  the  level  of  the  ground 
outside.  The  Grivitza  redoubt,  which  was  one 
of  the  largest,  was  a  perfect  square,  each  side  of 
which  was  about  fifty  yards  in  length.  Inside, 
the  redoubt  was  divided  into  four  compartments 
by  a  huge  traverse  of  earth  about  eight  feet  thick, 
which  was  designed  to  protect  the  defenders 
from  reverse  fire.  Communication  between  the 
four  compartments  was  afforded  by  narrow 
passages  left  open  between  the  cross-walls  and 
the  exterior  wall.  The  ammunition  magazine 
was  stored  in  a  great  subterranean  chamber 
excavated  underneath  the  massive  cross-walls  ; 
and  so  efficacious  was  this  mode  of  storing  the 
cartridges,  that  during  the  four  days'  bombard- 


222      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA 

ment  only  two  explosions  occurred,  although  it 
is  computed  that  the  Russians  fired  at  least  three 
hundred  thousand  shells  into  the  redoubts.  In 
the  Ibrahim  Bey  redoubt  a  segment  of  a  shell 
found  its  way  into  the  magazine,  which  blew 
up  during  the  height  of  the  attack,  killing  forty 
of  the  defenders,  Colonel  Ibrahim  Bey  himself 
falling  at  the  head  of  his  men  soon  afterwards. 
In  the  Yunuz  Bey  redoubt  in  the  extreme  south- 
west there  was  also  a  disastrous  explosion. 
Yunuz  Bey,  who  commanded  all  the  Krishin 
redoubts,  survived  the  assault  of  Skobelef£  and 
was  decorated  for  personal  bravery,  together 
with  Tewfik  Bey,  after  the  battle. 

Access  to  each  redoubt  was  gained  from  the 
rear,  and  in  some  cases  one  side  was  also  left 
open,  as  SkobelefFs  troops  found  to  their  cost  in 
the  work  of  which  they  held  temporary  posses- 
sion. Sleeping  accommodation  for  the  artillery- 
men was  provided  inside  the  redoubts,  while  the 
infantrymen  were  lodged  outside  in  the  trenches. 
There  was  something  weirdly  dramatic  in  the 
sight  of  those  Turkish  gunners,  black  and  weary 
and  smoke-begrimed  with  battle,  sleeping,  as  I 
have  often  seen  them,  in  their  narrow  resting- 
places  scooped  out  of  the  stiff  loam  in  the  inner 
side  of  the  great  wall  of  the  redoubt.  The 
Russian  shells  came  crashing  into  the  exterior 
face  of  the  earth  wall ;  but  the  gunners  slept  on 
calmly  in  their  subterranean  clay  beds,  and  after 


i877.]  THE    REDOUBTS.  223 

a  brief  slumber  mounted  to  relieve  their  comrades 
again,  often  indeed  only  to  exchange  their  narrow 
beds  in  the  thickness  of  the  earth  wall  for  couches 
in  the  cold,  wet  earth  outside  and  the  sleep 
that  knew  no  waking.  Immediately  in  front  of 
the  redoubt  in  every  case  was  a  ditch  about 
fifteen  feet  wide  and  ten  feet  deep  as  a  first 
line  of  defence.  Farther  in  advance  was  a  line 
of  trenches,  in  many  cases  connecting  with  an 
adjacent  redoubt ;  and  a  second  line  farther  on 
down  the  slope  of  the  hill  provided  another  line 
of  fire.  The  trenches  had  breastworks  about 
three  feet  high,  pierced  with  loopholes  for  rifles 
at  intervals  of  one  foot  six  inches.  Covered 
passages  effectually  connected  the  trenches,  and  a 
network  of  similar  passages  afforded  ample  living 
accommodation  for  the  troops.  The  scale  upon 
which  all  these  works  were  carried  out  may  be 
imagined  when  it  is  mentioned  that  one  of  the 
redoubts  contained  in  interior  area  more  than  ten 
thousand  seven  hundred  square  yards,  and  was 
provided  with  subterranean  chambers  affording 
lodgment  for  troops  and  staff  as  well  as  ample 
storage  room  and  stabling  for  horses. 

Of  course  the  redoubts  were  not  all  uniform 
in  exact  pattern,  some  of  them  being  designed 
for  artillery  and  infantry,  while  others  were  de- 
fended by  infantry  only.  In  many  of  the  works 
a  second  line  of  rifle  fire  was  obtained  from  a 
covered  way  leading  outside,  so  that  when  all 


224      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

the  resources  of  a  redoubt  and  trenches  were  at 
work  an  unremitting  fire  of  three  and  in  some 
cases  four  successive  tiers  was  obtained.  The 
supply  of  ammunition  was  practically  unlimited  ; 
and  it  is  not  difficult  to  recognize  that,  under  such 
conditions,  an  assaulting  force  could  not  but  be 
terribly  scourged  both  by  infantry  and  artillery. 

During  the  night  of  September  6  the  Russians 
brought  up  their  artillery  under  cover  of  the 
darkness,  and  threw  up  cover  for  the  guns  with 
their  entrenching  tools.  When  the  morning 
of  September  7  broke  in  cold  and  drizzling 
rain,  the  Russians  had  surrounded  us,  the  Rou- 
manian divisions  being  placed  in  the  north  and 
north-east,  while  the  Russian  divisions  lay  in  the 
south-east  and  south.  All  the  west  side  was 
occupied  by  cavalry,  who  commanded  the  valley 
of  the  Vid  and  the  Orkhanieh  road,  so  as  to 
cut  off  the  Turkish  fugitives  who  were  expected 
to  fly  in  that  direction. 

The  Russians  had  about  eighty  thousand  in- 
fantry, twelve  thousand  cavalry,  and  four  hundred 
and  forty  guns  ;  while  the  Turkish  forces 
numbered  about  thirty  thousand  infantry  with 
seventy-two  guns  and  an  inappreciable  number 
of  cavalry.* 

*  According  to  Russian  official  statistics,  the  force  brought  against 
Plevna  numbered  over  90,000  men,  composed  of  70,000  infantry, 
jo,ooo  cavalry,  with  24  siege-guns,  364  field-guns,  and  54  horse- 
guns.  The  losses  were  in  all  18,216  men:  killed,  75  officers  and 
7,558  men;  wounded,  290  officers  and  10,658  men.  The  Turkish 


1 877-]  THE    MAMMOTH    BATTERY.  225 

Every  precaution  had  been  taken  by  the 
Russians  to  avoid  a  repetition  of  the  previous 
disasters  which  had  attended  their  attempts  to 
force  Plevna  by  assault,  and  they  relied  for 
success  upon  their  vast  preponderance  in  numbers 
and  upon  a  prolonged  artillery  preparation  which 
was  intended  to  demoralize  the  defence. 

At  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  September  7 
I  heard  the  roar  of  the  commencing  bom- 
bardment from  Opanetz  in  the  north,  and  it 
quickly  worked  round,  until  the  two  Grivitza 
redoubts  due  east  of  Plevna  were  involved. 
Across  the  Bulgarian  road,  Ibrahim  Bey's  redoubt 
and  three  or  four  others  connected  with  it  sus- 
tained a  fierce  bombardment,  and  the  line  of 
guns  extending  southwards  across  the  Tutchenitza 
ravine  and  the  Lovtcha  road  added  their  voices 
to  the  general  roar  as  far  as  the  village  of 
Brestovitz,  where  a  heavy  fire  from  siege-guns 
was  concentrated  on  the  Krishin  redoubt.  A 
short  experience  of  the  bombardment,  however, 
showed  our  troops  that  they  had  little  to  fear 
from  the  Russian  artillery,  and  casualties  were 
few  and  far  between  in  the  redoubts. 

What  was  called  the  "  mammoth  battery," 
consisting  of  a  tremendous  group  of  fifty  heavy 

strength  given  in  the  text  is  only  approximate.  The  losses  have 
never  been  stated  ;  Osman  Pasha  admitted  after  the  surrender  that 
he  lost  more  men  on  the  Lovtcha  road  and  its  vicinity  than  did 
.Skobeleff,  who  owned  to  the  loss  of  160  officers  and  Over  8,000  men. 

15 


226      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

Russian  siege-guns,  was  placed  in  position  due 
east  of  Plevna,  and  bombarded  Ibrahim  Bey's 
redoubt  all  day,  the  guns  of  the  redoubt  replying 
with  spirit.  The  garrison  of  the  redoubt  were 
so  well  covered  that  they  lost  only  forty  men  in 
killed  and  wounded  after  the  whole  day's  firing, 
and  the  damage  which  was  done  to  the  earth- 
works during  the  day  was  repaired  at  night. 

Soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  action  I 
rode  over  towards  Ibrahim  Bey's  redoubt,  taking 
Lauri,  the  newly  arrived  German  artist,  with  me. 
As  we  rode  along  together  a  Russian  shell  struck 
the  ground  about  a  hundred  yards  in  front  of  us, 
and,  ricochetting,  flew  over  our  heads  and  lodged 
in  the  ground  behind  us.  Lauri  was  tremen- 
dously excited.  He  rushed  off  and  picked  up 
the  shell,  which  he  held  in  his  arms  as  if  it 
was  a  baby,  exclaiming  at  the  same  time  in  his 
broken  English,  "  I  am  forty-three  years  of  age, 
and  this  is  the  first  time  that  I  haf  seen  a  gun 
fired.  Ah,  what  would  my  wife  say  if  she 
could  now  see  me!"  With  some  difficulty  I 
induced  him  to  moderate  his  transports  and  drop 
the  shell,  which  I  was  afraid  every  moment  would 
explode  and  dissipate  poor  Lauri  into  space. 
By  keeping  on  the  lee  side  of  the  hill  and 
dodging  up  at  intervals  we  could  catch  glimpses 
of  the  "  mammoth  battery  "  scarcely  a  mile  away, 
and  could  see  the  spirts  of  flame  enveloped  in 
white  smoke  as  the  guns  were  fired  in  a  tremen- 


i877-]  RAUISHEVO    ON    FIRE.  227 

dous  volley.  Sometimes  the  shells  struck  the 
redoubt,  and  clouds  of  earth  flew  up  ;  while  at 
other  times  the  projectiles  went  screaming  over 
the  crest  of  the  hill,  and  fell  in  the  low  ground 
near  the  town. 

I  occupied  myself  in  my  hospital  for  the  next 
few  days,  riding  out  at  intervals  to  watch  the 
progress  of  the  bombardment,  which  was  being 
prosecuted  with  terrific  force.  On  the  loth  the 
village  of  Radishevo,  where  the  Russian  batteries 
were  in  position,  caught  fire,  and  the  conflagra- 
tion lit  up  the  wet  grey  sky  in  the  east.  Little 
damage  was  done  to  our  redoubts,  and  the  artillery 
preparation  was  so  far  a  failure. 

On  the  nth  the  general  assault  took  place. 
I  was  working  away  in  the  hospital  all  the 
morning,  as  the  wounded  were  beginning  to  come 
into  Plevna  in  considerable  numbers,  when  I 
saw  a  Turkish  sergeant  who  had  been  slightly 
wounded  by  a  splinter  from  a  shell.  He  an- 
nounced that  he  was  going  back  to  the  fight, 
and  I  said  that  I  would  go  with  him.  I  rode 
out,  while  the  sergeant  followed  on  foot,  and 
passing  our  farthest  redoubt  I  found  myself 
among  some  trees,  with  the  shells  flying  about 
in  all  directions.  When  I  looked  round  for  the 
sergeant,  I  found  that  he  had  disappeared,  and 
that  I  was  there  by  myself  about  two  hundred 
yards  in  the  rear  of  our  foremost  fighting  line 
in  the  trenches.  The  troops  were  almost  hidden 


228  THE    THIRD    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

from  me  by  smoke,  and  a  few  wounded  men 
were  crawling  back  towards  the  redoubt  for 
shelter.  I  formed  a  little  field  ambulance  behind 
the  trees,  and  proceeded  to  give  first  aid  to  the 
wounded  ;  but  the  firing  began  to  get  so  hot  that 
I  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  position  and  ride 
back.  As  I  crossed  the  Lovtcha  road  in  the 
direction  of  the  Krishin  redoubts,  I  came  across 
three  or  four  isolated  rifle  pits  in  which  a  few 
old  Turkish  civilians,  armed  with  antiquated 
rifles,  were  busily  firing  upon  the  Russian  lines. 
They  had  evidently  not  been  observed  by  the 
Russians,  and  the  old  fellows,  showing  nothing 
but  a  pair  of  gleaming  eyes  and  the  long  brown 
barrels  of  the  rifles  above  the  level  of  the  ground, 
were  knocking  over  their  men  at  long  range. 
How  on  earth  they  got  there  I  could  not  con- 
jecture ;  but  they  soon  saw  me,  and  resented  my 
appearance  strongly.  They  called  out  to  me  in 
most  forcible  language  to  take  myself  and  my 
horse  away,  as  they  were  afraid  that  I  should 
draw  the  Russian  fire  upon  them.  I  left  them 
still  diligently  potting  the  unconscious  enemy, 
and  at  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  I  heard 
a  terrific  musketry  fire  back  towards  Grivitza. 
After  crossing  the  headquarters  camp  I  could 
see  dense  masses  of  troops  advancing  from  the 
village  of  Grivitza,  and  a  black  cloud  of  men 
already  in  the  valley,  about  five  hundred  yards 
in  front  of  the  Grivitza  redoubt. 


1877.]  THE    GENERAL    ASSAULT.  2 29 

Meanwhile  the  Russian  artillerymen  were 
shelling  the  redoubt,  which  was  evidently  in 
imminent  danger.  The  stables  at  the  rear  of 
the  redoubt,  which  were  roofed  with  boards  and 
hurdles,  caught  fire  from  an  exploding  shell,  and 
blazed  up  as  I  was  watching.  I  could  hear  the 
Russians  cheering  when  they  saw  the  fire. 

Seeing  the  Russians  in  the  valley,  I  galloped  on 
the  lee  side  of  the  hill,  where  I  was  under  cover, 
to  the  Grivitza  redoubt.  I  went  into  the  redoubt 
which  was  being  shelled,  and,  climbing  upon  the 
banquette  where  the  men  were  firing,  I  could  see 
large  bodies  of  Roumanians  attacking  us  on  the 
north,  while  a  detachment  of  Russians  were  ad- 
vancing from  the  east.  I  found  Sadik  Pasha,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  redoubt,  and  told  him  that 
I  had  seen  a  strong  body  of  troops  in  the  valley 
below  us  and  invisible  from  the  redoubt.  A  shell 
exploded  in  the  redoubt  while  I  was  there,  and 
I  was  glad  to  clear  out  as  quickly  as  I  could. 

Jumping  on  my  horse  again,  I  galloped  off  to 
the  south,  where  Skobeleff  was  attacking  the 
Krishin  redoubts  and  the  neighbouring  works. 
As  I  rode  across  the  Lovtcha  road  the  firing  was 
something  terrific.  SkobelefTs  troops  had  taken 
the  second  crest  of  the  Green  Hills  on  the 
previous  day,  and  this  morning  they  had  taken 
the  third  crest  and  driven  our  men  back  from 
the  trenches  into  the  two  redoubts  described 
afterwards  by  Skobeleff  as  the  Number  i  and 


230      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

Number  2  Plevna  redoubts.  In  spite  of  a 
furious  counter-attack  by  the  Turks,  the  Russian 
regiments  remained  in  possession  of  the  height, 
having  thus  carried  each  successive  ridge  of  the 
Green  Hills  and  driven  our  men  back  into  the 
redoubts. 

It  was  now  about  half-past  two  in  the  after- 
noon, and  as  I  approached  the  rear  of  the  two 
redoubts  which  were  the  objective  of  the  main 
assault  the  intensity  of  the  fire  redoubled.  The 
Turks  were  running  out  of  the  back  of  the  re- 
doubts in  hundreds,  and  I  tried  in  vain  to  rally 
them  and  get  them  to  return.  I  saw  a  Turkish 
lieutenant,  who  was  one  of  the  fugitives,  en- 
deavouring to  climb  over  a  paling  fence  at  the 
back  of  one  of  the  redoubts  and  get  away  to 
Plevna.  I  upbraided  him,  and  thumped  him  in 
vain  with  the  flat  of  my  sword.  As  he  was 
getting  over  the  fence  he  was  struck  by  a  rifle- 
ball,  and  fell  with  his  back  broken. 

As  I  was  shouting,  entreating,  threatening,  and 
striking  the  fugitives  to  try  and  get  them  to  rally, 
I  saw  two  old  Turkish  civilians  in  long  beards 
and  caftans.  They  came  up  and  caught  me  by 
both  hands,  saying,  "  Sen  choki  adam,"  which 
means,  "  You  are  a  noble  fellow,"  or  words  to 
that  effect.  I  remember  this  incident  because 
it  was  one  of  the  highest  compliments  I  have 
ever  received.  Troops  were  flying  pell-mell  for 
Plevna,  and  shells  were  exploding  at  the  rate 


1 877-]  A    PANIC    AMONG    THE    TROOPS.  231 

of  twenty  or  thirty  per  minute  on  the  side  of 
the  hill.  The  roar  of  the  artillery,  the  rattle  of 
the  musketry,  the  explosion  of  the  shells,  the 
loud  hurrahs  of  the  Russians,  and  the  cries  of 
the  wounded  made  up  a  perfect  hell.  I  met 
Czetwertinski  near  the  redoubts,  and  he  and  I 
made  renewed  efforts  to  rally  the  men ;  but  we 
were  powerless  to  stop  the  mad  tide  of  fugitives. 
Czetwertinski  drove  the  point  of  his  sword  into 
a  man's  leg  without  being  able  to  stop  him  ; 
and  at  last,  as  it  was  getting  hotter  and  hotter, 
he  said  to  me  that  it  was  hopeless  stopping 
there,  and  we  had  better  be  off. 

As  I  returned  to  Plevna  the  men  were  flying 
like  wild  animals.  It  was  a  regular  panic.  They 
were  like  sheep  before  a  bush-fire.  When  I  got 
into  the  town  there  was  a  panic  among  the 
townspeople.  A  universal  cry  of,  "  The  Russians 
are  coming !  the  Russians  are  coming ! "  went 
up  on  all  sides  ;  and  wounded  men,  old,  bed- 
ridden, half-naked  women,  and  screaming  children 
were  all  crowding  towards  the  headquarters  camp. 
I  learnt  then  that  Skobeleff  had  taken  the  two 
redoubts  within  half  a  mile  of  the  town,  and  that 
the  Grivitza  redoubt  was  also  in  the  hands  of  the 
Russians. 

Skobeleff,  it  seems,  had  given  the  order  to 
attack  at  three  o'clock ;  and  the  Vladimir  and 
Souzdal  Regiments,  supported  by  chasseurs,  rose 
and  rushed  forward  with  bands  playing  and  drums 


232      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

beating.  They  had  to  descend  the  wooded  slopes 
covered  with  vines  from  the  third  ridge,  to  enter 
the  valley,  cross  the  stream  at  the  bottom,  and 
climb  a  stiff  slope,  completely  bare  for  about 
seven  hundred  yards,  on  the  summit  of  which 
the  redoubt  was  placed.  The  attacking  force 
received  a  terrible  fire  from  the  artillery  and 
infantry  in  the  redoubt  attacked,  as  well  as  an 
enfilading  fire  from  the  Krishin  redoubt ;  but 
when  reinforced  by  the  Revel  Regiment,  they 
pushed  on  doggedly  under  the  hail  of  bullets, 
which  had  already  killed  nearly  half  of  their 
number,  flung  themselves  into  the  trenches,  and 
finally  climbed  the  parapet  and  took  the  redoubt. 
The  second  redoubt,  which  was  connected  with 
the  first,  also  fell  immediately  afterwards  after 
a  desperate  struggle. 

Raked  by  the  guns  of  the  Krishin  redoubts 
and  by  the  fire  of  the  Turkish  infantry,  who 
sallied  out  from  the  camp  at  the  rear  of  these 
redoubts,  SkobelefFs  troops  had  a  fearful  night 
in  the  defences  which  they  had  captured. 

Successive  assaults  were  delivered  upon  them 
all  through  the  night  by  the  Turks ;  but  time 
after  time  our  men  were  driven  back  by  the 
murderous  fire  of  the  Krenke  and  Berdan  rifles. 
On  the  exposed  side  of  the  Number  i  redoubt 
the  Russians  had  built  up  a  parapet  of  the  dead 
bodies  of  friend  and  foe  alike ;  and  sheltered 
behind  this  dreadful  barrier,  they  poured  a  hail 


1877.]  HOSPITAL   WORK    UNDER    FIRE.  233 

of  bullets  into  the  Turkish  ranks.  When  morning 
broke  I  could  still  hear  the  rattle  of  the  rifles  ; 
and  working  away  in  my  shirt  sleeves  in  the 
hospital,  I  could  hear  the  rifle-bullets  pattering 
on  the  red  tiles  of  the  houses  in  the  town.  At 
daybreak  I  went  back  to  my  quarters  for  a  sleep. 
The  Russian  batteries  had  advanced  to  closer 
range,  and  two  shells  exploded  in  my  garden. 
A  bullet  came  through  the  door  of  the  room 
where  I  was  lying,  and  buried  itself  in  the  wall 
just  before  I  fell  asleep. 

When  I  awoke  and  went  out  the  firing  was 
still  going  on,  and  there  were  about  one  thousand 
five  hundred  wounded  men  lying  out  in  the  open 
square.  We  started  to  dress  them  at  once.  All 
the  wounded  men  who  had  been  in  the  hospital 
were  removed  for  greater  safety  to  the  south  end 
of  the  town,  so  as  to  be  as  far  away  as  possible 
from  the  scene  of  action.  We  cleared  out  a 
number  of  small  Bulgarian  hovels  belonging  to 
people  of  the  poorest  class,  and  installed  the 
wounded  in  them. 

I  had  not  been  at  the  hospital  long  before  my 
Circassian  servant  came  down  and  informed  me 
that  the  firing  at  my  house  was  getting  very  hot, 
and  he  wanted  to  know  what  he  should  do.  He 
said  that  he  thought  the  town  was  on  the  point 
of  being  taken.  I  told  him  to  go  back,  pack  up 
my  things,  and  put  them  on  my  horse.  I  said, 
"  If  you  see  the  Russians  coming  over  the  crest 


234      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

of  the  hill,  come  down  here  at  once  with  my 
horse,  but  not  otherwise."  My  horse  had  not 
come  out  of  it  scatheless,  for  a  bullet  had  gone 
through  the  muscles  of  his  neck ;  but  he  was 
still  full  of  pluck  and  able  to  carry  me  well. 

Meanwhile  let  us  see  what  had  been  happening 
at  the  redoubts.  Attack  after  attack  was  delivered 
through  the  night  without  success ;  and  at  last, 
at  half-past  ten  a.m.,  a  vigorous  assault,  backed 
up  with  a  telling  shell  fire,  shook  the  defence, 
and  the  Russians  began  to  pour  out  of  Number  i 
redoubt,  their  example  being  followed  by  those 
in  the  adjoining  work.  Some  of  the  foremost 
Turks  had  already  penetrated  into  the  redoubts  ; 
but  they  were  sacrificed  in  vain,  for  Skobeleff, 
with  his  extraordinary  personal  magnetism  and 
great  courage,  rallied  his  men  again,  and  staved 
off  the  inevitable  moment  a  little  longer.  I  got 
away  from  the  hospital  at  three  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  and  rode  out  towards  the  redoubts 
where  the  Russians  were  sustaining  a  last  furious 
assault  by  our  troops  under  Tewfik  Bey.  As  I 
neared  the  redoubts  this  assault  was  at  its  height, 
and  this  time  the  Turkish  troops  would  not  be 
denied.  The  columns  deployed  under  fire  and 
formed  lines  of  skirmishers,  who  received  con- 
tinuous support  from  fresh  accessions  of  men 
behind,  carrying  the  assault  forward  in  successive 
waves.  Soon  the  Turks  were  over  the  parapet 
once  more,  cutting  down  the  Russian  defenders, 


i877.]  RECAPTURE    OF    THE    REDOUBTS.  235 

and  driving  the  remainder  out  on  the  other  side 
and  down  the  slope  again  towards  their  own 
trenches  on  the  Green  Hills. 

Thus  the  third  battle  of  Plevna  ended,  after 
five  days'  fighting,  in  the  complete  defeat  of  the 
Russians,  who  lost  nearly  twenty  thousand  men 
in  the  long  bloody  struggle,  and  gained  nothing 
but  the  Grivitza  redoubt,  which  was  absolutely 
no  use  to  them,  and  which  fell  mainly  through 
the  instrumentality  of  the  Roumanian,  not  the 
Russian,  troops. 

It  is  amusing  to  observe  how  the  Russian 
official  documents  describe  the  result.  "  The 
points  chosen  for  attack,"  we  read,  "  were  the 
following :  the  redoubt  of  Grivitza,  the  works  in 
the  centre  opposite  the  heights  of  Radishevo,  and 
the  third  crest  of  the  Montagnes  Vertes.  After 
superhuman  efforts  and  enormous  losses,  our 
troops  carried  the  first  and  last  of  these  points. 
The  Grivitza  redoubt  and  two  of  the  redoubts 
south  of  Plevna  were  in  our  possession  ;  as  to 
the  central  works,  our  troops,  notwithstanding  that 
they  showed  a  bravery  beyond  all  praise,  could 
not  carry  them.  Consequently  we  had  obtained 
some  partial  successes ;  but  fresh  troops  were 
necessary  to  profit  by  our  gains,  and  these  were 
not  forthcoming.  It  was  decided,  therefore,  to 
keep  the  Grivitza  redoubt,  and  to  abandon  the 
Montagnes  Vertes." 

When  I  think'  of  that  last  tremendous  charge 


236       THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

of  the  Turkish  infantry,  when  the  cry  of  "  La 
ilaha  illallah  Mohammed  Rasul  Allah !  "  rent  the 
air  and  rang  from  one  redoubt  to  the  other,  as  it 
went  like  the  flame  in  a  train  of  gunpowder  round 
the  whole  circuit  of  the  defences,  I  cannot  help 
smiling  at  the  polite  official  statement,  "It  was 
decided  to  abandon  the  Montagnes  Vertes." 

I  was  inside  the  Number  i  redoubt  two 
minutes  after  the  men  of  the  front  firing  line, 
and  I  shall  never  forget  the  scene  of  carnage  that 
I  saw  there.  The  redoubt  was  literally  choked 
up  with  dead  and  dying  men,  and  the  ground 
was  ankle  deep  in  blood,  brains,  and  mutilated 
fragments  of  humanity.  The  Turks  became 
almost  delirious  with  the  excitement  of  the 
victory.  Everywhere  men  were  shouting,  pray- 
ing, and  giving  thanks  to  Allah.  About  three 
hundred  of  them  got  drag-ropes,  and  took  the 
captured  Russian  guns  off  in  triumph  to  the 
headquarters  camp ;  and  inside  the  redoubt  the 
soldiers  fell  on  each  other's  necks,  danced,  and 
sang  in  a  perfect  frenzy  of  delight.  The  excite- 
ment of  the  five  minutes  following  the  recapture 
of  the  redoubts  was  worth  a  lifetime  of  common- 
place existence  ;  but  all  the  while  in  the  Grivitza 
redoubt,  three  miles  away,  the  enemy  stood  watch- 
ing with  cannons  ready — a  silent  warning  of  the 
conflicts  yet  in  store  for  us. 

After  the  battle,  the  Russians  withdrew  from 
their  positions  and  retired  on  Radishevo. 


i877-!  RUSSIAN    SORTIE.  237 

The  Turkish  army  was  mad  with  joy.  We 
attached  but  little  importance  to  the  capture  of 
the  Grivitza  redoubt  by  the  Russians,  because 
the  Turkish  garrison  simply  fell  back  upon  the 
sister  redoubt,  which  was  only  one  hundred  and 
eighty  yards  distant  from  the  other  in  a  north- 
westerly direction,  and  really  commanded  it. 
The  unimportance  of  the  loss  of  this  redoubt 
was  proved  by  the  fact  that,  though  the  enemy 
occupied  it  during  the  whole  of  the  remainder 
of  the  siege,  they  did  little  or  no  damage 
from  it. 

On  the  night  after  the  battle,  the  Russian 
troops  in  the  Grivitza  redoubt  Number  i,  or 
the  Kanli  Tabiya,  made  a  desperate  sortie  with 
the  object  of  capturing  the  Number  2  redoubt, 
or,  as  we  called  it,  the  Bash  Tabiya. 

It  is  strange  how  the  sleeping  brain  adjusts  itself 
to  circumstances — sleeps  with  one  eye  open,  as  it 
were.  I  could  always  sleep  soundly  under  the 
fire  of  the  heavy  guns,  even  in  a  redoubt,  because 
my  brain  recognized  that  they  were  practically 
harmless  when  we  were  under  cover  ;  but  as  soon 
as  the  rattle  of  the  rifles  began,  I  invariably 
awoke  at  once  with  an  instinctive  knowledge  that 
the  fight  was  approaching  a  crisis.  So  it  was  on 
the  night  after  the  battle.  The  Russian  cannon 
continued  to  boom  sullenly  at  intervals,  and, 
worn  out  with  fatigue  as  I  was,  they  only  lulled 
me  to  a  deeper  slumber  in  my  quarters  in  the 


238      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

town.  Presently,  however,  a  rifle  volley  rang  out, 
quickly  answered  by  another  and  another.  In 
a  second  I  was  out  of  my  sheepskin  rug  and  on 
my  verandah,  from  which  I  could  see  the  night 
attack  three  miles  away.  The  night  was  dark 
and  drizzling ;  but  looking  in  a  north-easterly 
direction  towards  the  line  of  the  Janik  Bair 
redoubts,  I  could  see  the  flash  of  the  volleys  and 
the  spirting  flame  of  the  artillery  as  the  Russians 
leaped  from  their  redoubt  upon  the  Bash  Tabiya, 
only  one  hundred  and  eighty  yards  distant  from 
them.  The  Bash  Tabiya  was  strongly  garrisoned. 
Its  heavy  guns  swept  every  yard  of  the  ground 
between  it  and  the  newly  captured  forts  ;  and  its 
defenders  poured  an  incessant  hail  of  bullets  from 
a  triple  line  of  rifle-barrels  upon  the  attacking 
troops.  To  succeed  under  such  circumstances 
was  well  nigh  impossible,  and  after  a  few  minutes 
of  this  awful  fire  the  Russian  remnant  broke  and 
fled  back  to  the  protection  of  the  redoubt. 

It  was  only  on  the  morrow  that  we  realized 
what  a  complete  victory  we  had  won  in  the  battle 
of  the  previous  day,  because  we  could  then  see 
plainly  that  the  Russians  had  suffered  terrible 
losses  and  had  achieved  absolutely  nothing.  We 
began  to  feel  more  secure  of  our  position  ;  and  the 
wounded,  who  had  all  been  sent  away  to  the  lower 
end  of  the  town,  were  brought  back  again  and 
placed  in  temporary  hospitals  near  our  central 
depot.  In  the  previous  battles  we  had  been 


i877-l  HEAVY    HOSPITAL   WORK.  239 

accustomed  to  send  the  wounded  away  to  Sofia 
at  once,  and  the  wisdom  of  Osman  Pasha's  de- 
cision in  this  matter  was  now  made  apparent. 
Insufficient  as  was  our  hospital  accommodation,  it 
was  doubly  fortunate  that  we  were  not  encumbered 
with  the  wounded  from  the  previous  battles  as 
well,  because  we  now  had  about  four  thousand 
patients  to  deal  with,  and  there  was  no  chance  of 
sending  them  away  because  we  realized  at  last 
that  we  were  in  a  state  of  siege.  The  Russians 
were  all  round  Plevna,  and  they  barred  the 
Orkhanieh  road. 

We  of  the  medical  staff  had  four  days  of  real 
hard  work  after  the  battle.  There  were  an 
immense  number  of  operations  to  perform  ;  and 
as  Osman  Effendi  and  myself  had  to  perform  the 
greater  number  of  them,  our  energies  were  taxed 
to  the  utmost.  There  were  about  forty  doctors 
all  told  in  Plevna,  to  deal  with  four  thousand 
cases  or  thereabouts.  Owing  to  the  continuous 
nature  of  the  work,  I  never  went  back  to  my 
quarters  during  the  week  after  the  battle,  but 
used  to  sleep  at  the  hospital.  My  Circassian 
servant  cooked  my  food,  such  as  it  was,  at  my 
house,  and  brought  it  down  to  me  while  I  was 
at  work.  As  on  the  previous  occasions,  Osman 
Effendi  and  myself  performed  all  operations  in 
the  open  air  under  a  big  willow  tree  on  the  bank 
of  the  Tutchenitza,  and  in  the  shadow  of  an  old 
Turkish  mosque,  where  every  evening  at  sundown 


240  THE    THIRD    BATTLE    OF    PLEVNA. 

an  ancient  priest,  mounting  a  minaret,   called  the 
faithful  to  prayer. 

Although  we  were  greatly  assisted  by  the 
magnificent  physique  of  the  patients,  still  their 
extraordinary  reluctance  to  undergo  operations 
perceptibly  increased  the  average  mortality. 
Three  days  after  the  battle,  I  saw  a  Turkish 
soldier  crawling  slowly  along  the  street  and 
stopping  every  minute.  He  was  holding  some 
object  in  his  hand,  and  his  appearance  was  so 
strange  that  I  went  over  and  had  a  look  at  him. 
I  found  that  he  had  been  shot  in  the  abdomen, 
and  about  two  feet  of  the  small  intestine  had 
prolapsed,  and  was  protruding  through  the 
wound.  It  was  so  altered  in  appearance  by  ex- 
posure that  it  looked  exactly  like  a  bit  of  tarred 
rope.  Two  of  this  man's  comrades  had  been 
wounded,  and  had  died  in  the  hospital — a  fact 
which  had  made  him  believe  that  the  hospital 
treatment  was  responsible  for  the  fatal  termina- 
tion of  their  wounds,  and  he  resolutely  refused 
to  allow  me  to  touch  him  with  an  instrument. 
The  intestine  was  not  strangulated  ;  and  if  he 
had  allowed  me  to  open  up  the  wound,  wash  it, 
and  replace  the  intestine,  he  would  probably  have 
recovered.  As  it  was,  he  lived  for  fifteen  days 
in  that  pitiable  condition. 

The  stoicism  of  the  men  was  truly  remarkable. 
A  soldier  was  brought  to  me  to  be  examined 
one  day,  and  I  found  that  he  had  been  skylarking 


i8?7-]  RUSSIAN    BRAVERY.  24! 

with  a  comrade,  who  had  " jobbed"  him  in  the 
stomach  with  his  bayonet.  The  surgeon  who 
first  saw  him  could  detect  only  a  very  small 
wound  in  the  stomach,  and  he  put  a  bit  of  plaster 
over  the  place  and  sent  the  man  away.  In  a 
few  hours'  time  the  patient  became  very  bad,  and 
I  was  asked  to  see  him.  I  asked  him  at  once  if 
he  had  vomited  any  blood ;  and  when  he  replied 
in  the  affirmative,  I  knew  that  the  wall  of  the 
abdomen  had  been  perforated,  and  that  his  fate 
was  sealed.  He  was  quite  cheerful,  but  he  died 
at  the  end  of  twenty-four  hours. 

As  the  greater  part  of  the  fighting  had  been 
done  from  behind  parapets  or  breastworks,  the 
majority  of  the  wounded  were  shot  through  the 
head  or  chest,  and  a  large  percentage  of  these 
wounds  necessarily  proved  fatal.  There  was 
an  infinite  variety  in  the  nature  of  the  wounds. 
One  man  came  under  my  hands  who  received 
six  wounds  from  one  bullet.  The  ball  struck 
him  on  the  outside  of  the  right  arm  between  the 
elbow  and  the  shoulder,  passed  through  the  arm, 
through  the  fleshy  portions  of  the  chest,  and 
through  the  left  arm  as  well,  leaving  six  distinct 
bullet-holes,  all  of  which  I  washed  and  plugged. 
He  made  a  rapid  recovery,  and  after  a  few  weeks 
in  the  hospital  went  back  to  the  trenches. 

Not  a  single  wounded  Russian  came  into  my 
hands  after  the  battle.  The  Russians  always 
carried  their  wounded  with  them  when  they  re- 

16 


242      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

tired  ;  and  after  the  crowning  episode  of  the  battle, 
when  I  reached  the  Kavanlik  redoubt  as  soon 
as  Tewfik  Bey  had  recaptured  it,  there  was  not 
a  single  living  Russian  left  there.  When  the 
final  assault  was  delivered,  a  Russian  captain  and 
eighteen  men  elected  to  see  it  out  to  the  bitter 
end.  Those  brave  men  continued  fighting  to 
the  last,  and  were  all  bayoneted  by  the  Turkish 
troops  who  .poured,  victorious  at  last,  over  the 
parapet.  It  can  readily  be  imagined  that  fight- 
ing of  this  sanguinary  character  left  few  wounded 
Russians  for  us  to  deal  with. 

The  staff  at  the  principal  operating  hospital 
included,  besides  Osman  Effendi  and  myself, 
Weinberger,  Kustler,  Gebhardt,  Kronberg, 
Waldemann,  and  Rookh.  We  had  also  a  lot  of 
jarra  bashis  with  a  rudimentary  idea  of  surgery 
to  assist  us.  Each  man  brought  to  us  for  an 
operation  had  to  wait  his  turn,  and  such  was  the 
pressure  of  the  work  that  many  of  the  poor 
fellows  were  kept  there  for  four  or  five  days 
before  we  could  attend  to  them.  Still,  at  this 
period  a  large  percentage  recovered  from  their 
wounds,  owing  principally  to  the  fact  that  the 
accommodation  was  not  overcrowded  and  that  we 
had  few  cases  of  septic  disease.  We  were  able 
to  give  them  a  liberal  diet,  as  we  had  plenty  of 
broth,  milk,  rice,  and  biscuits.  These  biscuits 
when  soaked  and  steamed  proved  most  useful. 

Osman    Pasha   has   been   liberally   accused   of 


i877.j  OSMAN    PASHA    AND    THE    WOUNDED.          243 

inhuman  neglect  towards  the  wounded  ;  but  those 
accusations  have  been  made  against  him  by 
people  who  had  no  opportunity  of  forming  an 
accurate  judgment,  and  who  mistook  his  inflexible 
determination  to  get  the  wounded  away  from 
Plevna  for  cruelty  and  want  of  consideration  for 
their  sufferings.  I  had  many  opportunities  of 
observing  the  Muchir  during  my  stay  in  Plevna, 
and  I  can  definitely  refute  these  charges  of 
neglect  and  apathy  in  the  presence  of  anguish. 
Unsparing  of  his  troops  in  battle,  Osman  Pasha 
never  forgot  his  wounded  men  when  the  fighting 
was  over.  At  this  period,  after  the  third  battle, 
he  constantly  visited  the  hospitals,  encouraging 
the  wounded  by  his  presence  and  by  his  kindly 
words.  He  let  it  be  understood,  too,  that  all 
those  members  of  the  medical  staff  who  worked 
well  would  be  decorated ;  and  it  is  only  bare 
justice  to  say  that  all  of  them  cheerfully  per- 
formed long  hours  of  very  hard  work  on  in- 
sufficient food  and  with  little  or  no  sleep  during 
the  trying  days  and  nights  that  followed  upon 
our  greatest  victory. 

When  the  brunt  of  the  work  was  over,  I  went 
back  to  my  quarters,  and  Czetwertinski  and  Victor 
Lauri  went  with  me — Czetwertinski  because  he 
was  very  delicate,  and  Lauri  because  he  had  no 
servant  of  his  own,  and  did  not  know  where  else 
to  go.  About  four  days  after  the  battle,  Czet- 
wertinski, who  was  in  touch  with  the  headquarters 


244      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

staff,  heard  that  Osman  Pasha  was  looking  for 
some  one  who  would  endeavour  to  run  the 
gauntlet  of  the  Russians,  posted  all  round  Plevna, 
and  carry  his  despatches  to  Constantinople.  The 
gallant  young  Pole  brought  me  the  news,  and 
asked  me  if  I  would  join  him  in  an  attempt  to  get 
through  with  the  papers.  We  sat  up  most  of  the 
night  talking  the  matter  over,  and  Czetwertinski 
carefully  explained  to  me  that,  while  we  should 
certainly  be  hanged  if  we  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Russians,  we  should  be  rewarded  with  the 
highest  decorations  if  we  were  successful  in  the 
attempt. 

We  agreed  to  offer  our  services  as  despatch- 
carriers  to  Osman  Pasha,  and  next  morning 
Czetwertinski  waited  on  the  commander-in-chief 
and  formally  represented  our  decision.  Osman 
Pasha  thanked  us  warmly,  but  declined  our  offer, 
preferring  to  entrust  the  task  to  a  Circassian, 
who,  being  more  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
country,  would  stand  a  better  chance  of  getting 
through  the  enemy's  lines. 

Gay,  the  Daily  Telegraph  correspondent,  how- 
ever, was  extremely  anxious  to  get  away.  He 
had  shut  himself  up  in  his  own  room  as  soon  as 
the  battle  was  over,  and  had  been  writing  all 
day  and  all  night  ever  since,  preparing  a  glowing 
description  of  the  stirring  events  which  had  taken 
place.  He  had  completed  a  fine  budget  of 
work,  and  was  naturally  burning  to  get  it  into 


i877.]  RUNNING    THE    GAUNTLET.  245 

his  paper ;  for  it  meant  a  great  journalistic  coup 
for  the  Telegraph,  as  Gay  was  the  only  corre- 
spondent with  the  Turkish  army,  though  Forbes, 
MacGahan,  and  many  others  were  with  the 
Russians.  The  first  step  was  to  engage  a  guide, 
and  Gay  selected  a  smart  young  Circassian,  who 
willingly  undertook  the  job  for  the  munificent 
reward  of  three  thousand  piastres,  which  he  was 
promised  as  soon  as  Sofia  was  reached.  Sitting 
in  his  room  in  Plevna,  Gay  wound  up  his 
despatch  for  the  Daily  Telegraph  by  describing 
his  plans  for  getting  it  to  Sofia.  "  To-day, 
September  15,"  he  wrote,  "the  cannonade  goes 
forward  languidly,  nor  is  it  at  all  likely  that  it 
will  end  so  long  as  the  Russians  have  a  gun  or 
a  man  anywhere  near  us.  But  it  is  compara- 
tively harmless,  so  far  as  affecting  the  Turkish 
position  goes,  and  will  some  day,  when  Osman 
Pasha  is  reinforced,  as  he  shortly  will  be,  come 
to  an  untimely  end.  For  my  own  part  I  am 
about  to  endeavour  to-night  to  break  the  blockade 
which  surrounds  Plevna.  For  two  days  I  have 
sought  for  Circassians  who  would  undertake  the 
task  of  piloting  me  over  the  mountains  in  the 
dark  and  failed.  Last  evening  Osman  Pasha 
found  a  one-eyed  chieftain,  who  with  a  comrade 
has  engaged  to  conduct  me  if  the  feat  is  at  all 
practicable,  and  according  to  present  arrange- 
ments I  am  to  start  to-night  about  the  time  it 
begins  to  get  dark.  Mr.  Victor  Lauri  too  is 


246      THE  THIRD  BATTLE  OF  PLEVNA. 

anxious  to  go  with  me ;  and  a  Turkish  officer  also 
desires  to  be  one  of  the  party,  which  will  thus 
consist  of  two  Circassians,  a  Turkish  sergeant, 
and  my  servant,  an  Ionian  lad,  a  Greek  groom, 
Mr.  Lauri,  the  Turkish  officer,  and  myself — in  all 
a  party  of  eight  well  armed.  At  the  moment  of 
my  writing  the  Circassians  and  the  Greek  are  out 
on  a  voyage  of  exploration,  with  a  view  to  seeing 
whether  there  is  the  possibility  of  our  accom- 
plishing the  task,  in  which  case  they  will  be  back 
by  evening  ready  to  pilot  us.  As  the  risk  is 
great,  the  Circassians  are  to  be  amply  rewarded 
directly  Sofia  is  reached,  that  is,  it  the  work  be 
faithfully  done,  and  upon  their  report  now  all 
rests.  For  myself  I  am  determined  to  go  if 
they  will  take  me.  What  the  result  will  be  time 
alone  can  show.  But  if  you  get  this  letter 
safely,  I  shall  have  run  the  gauntlet,  and  will 
then  telegraph  you  the  history  of  our  risky  ride 
across  country." 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Gay  did  not  start  on  that 
night.  Czetwertinski  and  I  went  out  with  him 
to  the  outposts  to  see  him  off;  but  it  was  plain 
that  the  psychological  moment  was  not  yet.  It 
was  a  bright  moonlight  night,  and  we  could  see 
the  Russian  vedettes  sitting  on  their  horses  all 
round  us.  A  cat  could  not  have  got  through  the 
lines  without  being  seen,  let  alone  a  man  on 
horseback  ;  and  the  captain  in  command  of  our 
outpost  absolutely  refused  to  allow  the  attempt  to 


i877-]  A    PERILOUS    RIDE.  247 

be  made,  pointing  out  that  it  meant  certain  capture 
and  death  for  all  the  party. 

On  the  following  night,  however,  Gay  and  his 
escort  got  away.  We  heard  afterwards  that  they 
had  a  lively  time  of  it,  for  they  were  chased  by 
Cossacks,  and  fired  on  repeatedly  by  startled 
Russian  sentries.  It  was  only  through  the  speed 
and  bottom  of  their  horses  that  they  reached 
Orkhanieh  in  safety,  and  thence  made  their  way 
to  Sofia.  Gay  had  a  quarrel  with  Lauri  before 
he  went,  and  the  result  was  that  the  little  German 
artist  stayed  behind  with  me. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

Lauri  and  the  Sausage— A  Diet  of  "  Foiled  Peans"— The  Ways 
of  a  Parlementaire — Politeness  on  the  Battle-field — Inde- 
fatigable Burrowing  by  the  Turks— Skobeleff's  Annoyance— 
A  Visit  to  a  Redoubt — Russian  Artillery  Practice — I  lose 
my  Groom — Geese,  and  how  to  get  them — I  go  out  recon- 
noitring— We  have  a  Hot  Ten  Minutes — Looking  out  for  a 
New  Horse— A  Grand  Charger  lost— We  retire  on  Netropol 
— The  Use  of  Artillery — The  Russians  attack  our  Convoy — 
We  lose  our  Medical  Stores — A  Humorous  Russian  Prisoner 
— Afternoon  Coffee  with  Sadik  Pasha — A  Call  made  under 
Difficulties — The  Uninvited  Guest — Kronberg  my  Colleague 
— He  saves  a  Supposed  Spy — A  Visit  to  Sadik  Pasha — 
Coffee  under  difficulties — In  my  Hospital  again — Fearful 
Scenes  of  Suffering — Wounds,  Filth,  and  Disease — Heavy 
Mortality— Antiseptics  exhausted — Appearance  of  Gangrene 
— My  Anatolian  Soldier — Pyaemia  Rampant. 

AMID  the  recollection  of  all  those  scenes  of  blood- 
shed, the  memory  of  the  little  German  artist's 
yearning  for  the  unattainable  stands  out  clear 
and  distinct.  It  was  connected  with  a  German 
sausage ;  but  in  order  to  make  the  matter  plain,  it 
is  necessary  to  point  out  that  Gay  and  Lauri  had 
expended  about  thirty  pounds  in  equipping  a 
private  commissariat  department  before  they  came 

to  Plevna.     In  Constantinople  they  had  bought 

248 


1877.]  LAURI    AND    THE    SAUSAGE.  249 

provisions  of  all  kinds  :  English  kippered  herrings, 
American  canned  beef,  potted  vegetables  of 
strange  and  fearful  hues,  portable  meat  lozenges, 
and  last,  but  not  least,  a  magnificent  German 
sausage — not  one  of  those  insignificant  cylinders 
of  suspicious  ingredients  which  are  exposed  for 
sale  in  the  piping  times  of  peace,  but  a  sausage 
which  was  constructed,  so  to  speak,  on  a  war 
footing.  It  was  about  four  feet  long  and  one  foot 
six  inches  in  circumference,  and  it  was  enclosed 
in  a  metal  case  of  the  kind  generally  used  to 
carry  maps  and  charts.  This  noble  specimen 
of  wurst  was  the  apple  of  little  Lauri's  artistic 
eye.  But,  alas !  I  was  ignorant  of  this.  Before 
Gay  went  away,  being  incensed  with  Lauri  over 
some  trivial  dispute,  he  presented  me  with  the  re- 
mains of  the  commissariat,  which,  it  appeared,  had 
been  bought  with  his  money,  and  which  included 
the  famous  sausage.  He  also  gave  me  several 
other  things,  including  a  capital  bell  tent,  which,  I 
am  sorry  to  say,  was  afterwards  stolen  from  me. 

However,  when  I  got  this  sausage  Lauri  was 
away,  camping,  I  fancy,  in  one  of  the  redoubts, 
and  I  at  once  invited  every  good  fellow  that  I 
knew  in  the  place  to  come  to  the  banquet.  We 
had  two  meals  off  it,  and  then — where,  oh,  where 
was  that  triumph  of  the  sausage-maker's  art  ? 
"  Where,"  asks  that  inspired  bard  Hans  Breit- 
mann,  "  is  dat  little  cloud  that  fringed  the  mountain 
brow  ? "  We  procured  some  raki,  the  pungent 


250  THE    INVESTMENT   OF    PLEVNA. 

Turkish  spirit  which  burns  a  hole  in  the  mem- 
brane of  the  throat  as  it  passes  down,  and  we 
had  dinner.  Then  we  procured  some  more 
raki,  and  we  had  supper.  After  that  we  looked 
round  for  the  sausage ;  but  it  was  gone — "  gone 
where  the  woodbine  twineth."  Lauri  came 
back  to  my  quarters  next  day,  and  behaved 
with  contumely  when  invited  to  sit  down  to  our 
usual  fare  of  boiled  beans  and  rice.  He  con- 
signed every  individual  boiled  bean  in  Turkey 
to  a  place  where  it  would  soon  become  un- 
pleasantly scorched,  and  then  he  mourned  for 
the  sausage,  which  he  believed  Gay  had  eaten 
in  the  silence  of  the  night  all  by  himself.  "If 
only  he  had  left  me  my  peautiful  sausage ! "  he 
wailed,  while  I  said  never  a  word,  but  only 
winked  at  Czetwertinski.  When  Lauri  had  con- 
tinued every  day  for  a  week  making  lamentation 
over  the  loss  of  that  satisfying  yard  and  a  quarter 
of  food,  I  broke  the  news  gently  to  him  that  we 
had  eaten  it  in  his  absence.  Contrary  to  my 
expectation,  he  was  not  seized  with  an  apoplectic 
attack,  and  at  last  even  became  reconciled  again 
to  the  "  verdammte  poiled  peans." 

One  day  when  I  rode  up  to  the  headquarters 
camp  at  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I 
found  the  whole  place  in  a  simmer  of  suppressed 
excitement,  and  addressed  myself  to  Tewfik 
Pasha,  who  had  been  promoted  to  that  rank  after 
the  battle,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  cause  of 


1877.3  THE    WAYS    OF    A    PARLEMENTAIRE.  251 

the  commotion.  He  told  me  that  the  Russians 
had  sent  forward  a  parlementaire  to  invite  Osman 
Pasha  or  some  officer  representing  him  to  meet  a 
Russian  general  at  a  certain  place  and  discuss 
a  matter  of  interest  to  both.  I  asked  what  the 
subject  of  discussion  was  to  be,  and  Tewfik 
replied  that  he  did  not  know.  He  also  told  me 
that  Osman  Pasha  wished  to  go  himself,  but  that 
his  staff  were  endeavouring  to  dissuade  him, 
pointing  out  to  him  that  he  would  impair  his 
dignity  by  consenting  to  meet  any  officer  of 
lower  grade  than  the  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Russian  army,  who  at  this  time  wras  Prince 
Charles  of  Roumania. 

As  I  sat  on  my  horse  at  the  headquarters  camp 
I  saw  that  Osman  Pasha  was  ready  to  start.  His 
best  horse,  a  magnificent  chestnut  charger  with  a 
saddlecloth  heavily  embroidered  with  gold,  was 
champing  the  bit  in  front  of  the  Muchir's  tent, 
and  presently  Osman  Pasha  emerged,  dressed  in 
his  full  State  uniform,  and  actually  wearing,  what 
I  should  never  have  expected  to  see  in  Plevna 
at  that  grim  period,  a  pair  of  white  kid  gloves. 
It  was  arranged  that  if  he  went  he  should  be 
accompanied  by  Tewfik  Pasha. 

At  the  last  moment,  however,  Osman  Pasha 
yielded  to  the  advice  of  his  staff,  and  decided  to 
remain  behind  ;  so  Tewfik  Pasha  and  Czetwertinski 
went  forward  with  a  small  escort.  They  rode 
out  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Plevna,  where 


252  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

they  met  two  Russian  officers,  and  after  an 
elaborate  exchange  of  polite  courtesies  the  busi- 
ness of  the  conference  was  broached.  It  appeared 
that  during  the  attack  on  the  Grivitza  redoubt 
and  the  subsequent  night  attack  on  the  Bash 
Tabiya  many  hundreds  of  men  had  been  killed  ; 
and  as  the  Grivitza  redoubt  remained  in  the 
hands  of  the  Russians,  and  the  Bash  redoubt, 
only  one  hundred  and  eighty  yards  away,  was  still 
held  by  the  Turks,  the  corpses  both  of  Turks  and 
Russians  which  lay  between  the  two  works  had 
been  left  unburied,  with  the  result  that  the  stench 
had  become  almost  unbearable,  and  was  a  serious 
annoyance  to  the  defenders  of  both  forts.  The 
Russian  officers  politely  pointed  out  that  a  re- 
moval of  the  nuisance  would  be  as  welcome  to 
them  as  it  would  be  to  the  Turks,  and  courteously 
offered  to  send  out  a  burial  party  and  inter  all 
the  bodies  lying  between  the  Grivitza  and  the 
Bash  redoubts,  if  the  occupants  of  the  latter  work 
would  incommode  themselves  so  far  as  to  abstain 
from  potting  at  the  military  gravediggers  while 
they  were  pursuing  their  melancholy  occupation. 
Tewfik  Pasha  and  Czetwertinski  begged  that  the 
Russian  officers  would  excuse  them  for  a  moment 
while  they  considered  the  subject,  and  then,  after 
a  brief  consultation  in  Turkish,  Czetwertinski  as 
spokesman  took  up  his  parable  in  reply.  It  was 
with  feelings  of  the  most  profound  regret,  he 
explained,  that  Tewfik  Pasha  was  obliged  to  deny 


i877. ]  POLITENESS    ON    THE    BATTLE-FIELD.  253 

himself  the  pleasure  of  accepting  the  generous 
offer  of  the  Russians.  Certainly  the  odour  from 
the  ill  fated  corpses,  both  of  the  Turks  and  of 
their  so  gallant  and  courageous  assailants,  was 
decidedly  offensive  ;  but  it  would  not  be  fair  to 
allow  the  Russians  to  incur  the  whole  of  the 
annoyance  which  would  attach  to  the  burial  of 
so  many  patriots  who  had  fallen  on  the  field  of 
honour.  In  effect  he  would  propose  as  an  alter- 
native that  if  the  Russians  would  inconvenience 
themselves  to  the  extent  of  sending  out  a  party 
of  men  to  bury  all  the  corpses  within  ninety  yards 
of  their  redoubt,  the  Turks  on  their  side  would 
feel  it  a  pleasure  and  an  honour  to  bury  all  the 
bodies  within  a  similar  distance  of  the  work  which 
they  occupied.  Thus  the  labour  would  be  equally 
divided  and  the  interment  carried  out  most 
satisfactorily. 

The  wily  Tewfik  had  seen  at  a  glance  the 
object  of  the  Russians  in  proposing  this  generous 
action.  If  they  had  been  allowed  to  advance 
one  hundred  and  twenty  yards  from  their  redoubt 
on  the  pretence  of  burying  the  bodies,  they  would 
surmount  the  crest  of  the  hill,  and  would  be  able 
to  see  into  Plevna,  besides  securing  most  valuable 
observations  as  to  the  position  of  the  various 
defences.  Hence  his  polite  reply. 

The  Russian  officers  were  overwhelmed  of 
course  with  admiration  for  the  generous  proposal 
made  by  Tewfik  Pasha,  but  were  desolated  at 


254  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

their  inability  to  accept  it.  After  further  parleying 
in  the  same  strain  it  was  plain  that  the  parle- 
mentaires  would  be  unable  to  come  to  terms,  so 
the  Russians  produced  a  flask  of  excellent  brandy 
which  they  pressed  upon  their  visitors.  Tewfik 
Pasha  did  not  drink,  but  Czetwertinski  politely 
drained  a  glass  to  the  health  of  his  entertainers, 
and  all  sat  down  for  a  few  minutes'  pleasant  chat 
about  the  weather  and  the  crops,  the  latest  story 
from  the  clubs,  and  the  legs  of  the  last  new  ballet- 
dancer  at  the  Paris  opera-house.  Then  Tewfik 
Pasha  took  out  his  watch,  and  thought  that  it 
was  really  time  to  be  going ,'  so  the  Russian 
officers  bowed,  and  wished  their  visitors  au  revoir, 
while  Tewfik  Pasha  and  Czetwertinski  with  their 
escort  of  a  couple  of  troopers  trotted  back  towards 
the  Turkish  lines.  It  is  pleasant  to  reflect  that 
the  disagreeable  necessities  of  war  cannot  blunt 
the  exquisite  politeness  of  true  diplomacy. 

Day  by  day  the  Russians,  who  were  beginning 
to  recover  their  lost  morale,  worked  up  closer  and 
closer  towards  our  entrenchments.  Taught  by 
the  example  of  their  adversaries,  they  began  to 
make  a  more  extensive  use  of  the  entrenching 
spade  which  had  already  revolutionized  the  art 
of  warfare ;  and  seeing  the  completeness  with 
which  the  Turks  protected  themselves  by  means 
of  the  shield  which  they  carried  with  them,  the 
Russians  too  rapidly  adopted  the  same  practice. 

One   morning   the    Russian   outposts   were  so 


i877.]  SKOBELEFFS    ANNOYANCE.  255 

close  to  our  lines  that  they  could  see  our  men 
laying  out  fresh  lines  of  shelter  trenches,  and 
working  parties  commencing  their  tasks  with  a 
will.  SkobelefiC  accompanied  by  his  staf£  was 
examining  these  works,  and,  feeling  irritated  by 
the  tenacity  of  the  Turks,  he  ordered  a  gun  to 
be  brought  up  to  the  outposts.  The  gun  was 
placed  in  position,  and  fired  several  rounds  of 
case  shot  at  the  working  parties,  killing  a  couple 
of  men  and  wounding  three  others.  Our  fellows 
replied  energetically,  and  the  workers  presently 
returned  to  their  burrowing  with  fresh  zest. 

Day  and  night  a  desultory  bombardment  con- 
tinued. During  the  night  the  Russians  used  to 
fire  from  ten  to  twenty  shells  into  the  town,  and 
at  intervals  during  the  day  also  the  shells  arrived, 
knocking  down  a  few  houses  and  killing  a  good 
many  men,  more  Bulgarians,  however,  than  Turks. 
Very  shortly  after  the  battle  we  found  that 
the  4th  division  of  the  Roumanian  army  was 
entrenched  about  six  hundred  yards  to  the  east 
of  the  Bash  Tabiya.  Owing  to  the  terrible  stench 
caused  by  the  dead  bodies  which  lay  unburied, 
we  had  to  change  the  entire  garrison  of  the  Bash 
Tabiya,  numbering  four  thousand  men  in  all,  every 
forty-eight  hours  ;  and  as  the  approach  to  the  Bash 
Tabiya  was  exposed  for  about  thirty  yards  to  the 
fire  of  the  Russians,  the  operation  of  relieving 
the  guard  was  always  exciting. 

I  often  paid  a  visit  to  the  Bash  Tabiva  in  the 


256  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

afternoon  to  have  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  cigarette 
with  old  Sadik  Pasha,  who  was  in  command,  and 
these  afternoon  calls  were  always  attended  with 
a  certain  amount  of  risk.  The  fellows  in  the  Gri- 
vitza  redoubt  used  to  keep  a  look  out  for  visitors  ; 
but  the  range  was  over  eight  hundred  yards,  and 
I  used  to  skip  across  those  thirty  yards  of  exposed 
space,  dodging  like  a  strong  blue  rock  before  the 
barrels  of  the  pigeon-shooter,  and  always  coming 
through  safely.  It  did  not  take  me  more  than 
three  seconds  to  cover  the  distance,  and  before 
they  could  sight  their  rifles  I  was  across. 

At  about  three  o'clock  every  afternoon  Ahmet 
brought  my  horse  down  to  the  hospital,  and  I 
went  for  a  ride  out  to  the  redoubts,  and  paid  my 
respects  to  one  or  other  of  the  commanders. 
One  day  a  Turkish  major  in  one  of  them  con- 
sulted me  about  an  eruption  on  his  chin.  He 
was  mightily  concerned  about  it,  and  I  promised 
to  bring  him  some  ointment  to  allay  the  un- 
pleasant symptoms.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I 
believe  it  was  barber's  itch  that  he  had.  Accord- 
ingly I  rode  out  on  the  following  day  with  the 
ointment  to  the  redoubt,  which  was  commanded 
by  a  Russian  redoubt  built  on  the  slope  of  a  hill 
about  a  thousand  yards  away.  As  I  got  up  to 
our  redoubt  there  were  three  soldiers  sitting  on 
the  rear  wall  smoking  cigarettes,  and  I  called 
to  one  of  them  to  come  and  hold  my  horse.  The 
one  who  came  was  a  magnificently  built  fellow. 


1877.3  A    VISIT    TO    A    REDOUBT.  257 

He  was  in  great  good  humour,  laughing  and 
chatting  with  his  comrades,  and  he  came  out  of 
the  redoubt  and  held  my  bridle  while  I  walked 
into  the  work.  As  I  did  so  the  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  Russian  redoubt,  seeing  a  horseman 
approaching  the  work  opposite  to  him,  thought 
that  it  would  be  good  fun  to  have  a  shot  at  him  ; 
so  he  let  drive  at  me  with  three  field-guns.  I 
saw  the  three  puffs  of  smoke  together  as  I  walked 
into  the  redoubt.  One  shell  buried  itself  in  the 
front  wall  of  the  redoubt  without  exploding, 
another  burst  in  the  redoubt,  and  the  third  passed 
over  the  redoubt  and  exploded  just  behind  it. 
The  casing  of  the  shell  that  exploded  inside 
wounded  a  man  in  the  heel,  taking  half  the  boot 
off  and  cutting  the  heel  to  the  bone.  He  was  a 
black  soldier,  a  Nubian.  I  was  looking  after 
him,  when  some  one  called  out  to  me  to  come 
outside ;  and  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  my  horse 
quietly  grazing  about  fifty  yards  at  the  rear  of  the 
redoubt.  The  man  who  had  been  holding  him 
had  been  cut  in  two  by  the  third  shell.  He  was 
quite  dead.  I  went  back  into  the  redoubt,  and 
dressed  the  Nubian's  heel.  Then  the  Turkish 
major  and  I  had  coffee  and  cigarettes  together, 
and  I  gave  him  the  ointment  for  his  chin,  whereat 
he  was  much  gratified.  We  were  so  much  accus- 
tomed to  whole  hecatombs  of  victims  in  those 
days,  that  we  were  callous  to  a  single  casualty. 
We  were  beginning  to  get  a  little  short  of  food 

17 


258  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

in  Plevna  ;  and  though  I  was  not  very  particular 
about  my  cuisine  and  got  on  fairly  well  on  boiled 
beans  and  rice,  I  felt  sorry  for  poor  Czetwertinski, 
who  had  been  very  bad  with  dysentery,  and  for 
whom  I  prescribed  nourishing  food  in  vain,  for 
there  was  no  one  to  make  up  the  prescription. 
However,  one  morning  I  noticed  a  fine  flock  of 
geese  in  the  yard  of  a  Bulgarian  house  between 
my  place  and  the  hospital,  so  I  approached  the 
proprietor  with  an  eye  to  purchase.  He  was  a 
sour-tempered  fellow  ;  and  though  I  offered  him 
a  medjidie  apiece  for  the  geese,  he  declined  to 
trade.  When  I  got  home  again  that  night  and 
sat  down  to  more  boiled  beans,  I  casually  men- 
tioned to  Ahmet  that  there  were  a  nice  lot  of 
geese  in  a  Bulgarian  house  not  far  away.  Next 
night  all  the  geese  were  in  our  yard.  I  did  not 
inquire  too  closely  the  motive  which  impelled  the 
toothsome  birds  to  seek  for  change  of  scene ;  but 
it  flashed  across  me  that  Ahmet  and  his  mate 
Faizi  were  young  and  strong,  and  also  that  they 
were  Circassians.  We  ate  four  of  the  geese  in 
our  house,  and  gave  the  rest  away  to  my  brother 
surgeons.  There  were  a  dozen  of  them  origin- 
ally, and  I  sent  the  Bulgarian  goose-farmer  a 
couple  of  Turkish  liras  for  them,  so  that  he  did 
not  do  so  badly  after  all  out  of  his  forced  sale. 

Although  big  engagements  seemed  at  an  end 
for  the  present,  and  the  Russians  evidently 
intended  to  starve  us  out,  instead  of  attempting 


i877.]  RECONNOITRING.  259 

to  take  Plevna  by  assault,  still  we  had  plenty  of 
casual  skirmishes  to  keep  us  in  form  and  remind 
us  that  we  were  not  at  a  picnic.  Towards  the 
end  of  September,  Mustapha  Bey  was  ordered 
to  go  out  with  a  squadron  of  cavalry  across  the 
Vid  and  reconnoitre  the  Sofia  road,  to  see  what 
sort  of  a  force  the  Russians  had  placed  there. 
I  was  a  great  favourite  with  old  Mustapha,  and 
he  made  an  application  to  Osman  Pasha  that  I 
should  be  allowed  to  accompany  the  column. 

Permission  was  readily  granted,  and  one  beauti- 
ful morning  I  found  myself  cantering  out  of 
Plevna,  with  Mustapha  Bey  and  Czetwertinski 
at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  four  hundred  regular 
cavalry  and  three  hundred  Circassians.  We 
rode  out  to  the  foot  of  the  Janik  Bair  colline 
below  Opanetz,  and  from  that  point  we  could 
see  the  village  of  Dolni-Netropol,  about  a  mile 
away. 

As  we  were  riding  towards  that  village  the  troop 
suddenly  halted,  and  Czetwertinski  declared  that 
he  could  make  out  a  regiment  of  infantry  drawn 
up  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  away.  We 
held  a  consultation,  and  Czetwertinski  said  that 
he  could  see  a  battery  of  Russian  artillery  in 
position  as  well.  I  had  a  great  reputation  for 
being  sharp-sighted  in  those  days,  and  was 
generally  the  first  to  see  the  enemy  ;  but  I  fancied 
that  what  Czetwertinski  saw  was  really  a  herd  of 
the  small  black  cattle  of  the  country. 


26O  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

"  Wait  here  a  moment  while  I  go  on  and  have 
a  look,"  I  shouted  ;  and  sticking  the  spurs  into 
my  horse,  I  galloped  forward  by  myself. 

When  I  had  gone  about  two  hundred  yards,  I 
caught  sight  of  a  Russian  vedette,  galloping  for 
his  life  towards  Netropol.  The  Circassians  saw 
him  too,  and  in  a  second  they  were  after  him 
like  greyhounds  coursing  a  hare.  The  whole 
troop  followed  them  ;  but  before  we  had  gone 
a  furlong  we  heard  the  sharp  crack  of  the  rifles, 
and  the  piff-paff  of  the  bullets  striking  the 
ground  all  round  us. 

Old  Mustapha  was  taken  by  surprise,  and 
was  quite  disconcerted  for  the  moment ;  but  we 
galloped  on  to  the  next  ridge,  and  we  found 
that  the  Circassians  had  thrown  themselves  on 
the  ground  at  the  top  of  the  ridge  in  skirmish- 
ing order,  and  were  busily  blazing  at  a  Russian 
cavalry  regiment  about  five  hundred  yards  away. 
We  all  took  up  the  same  order,  lying  down  and 
firing  away  as  fast  as  we  could  pull  our  triggers 
at  the  dense  masses  of  the  enemy  scarcely  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  away.  I  was  on  the  extreme 
right,  and  I  kept  at  it  with  my  Winchester, 
vaguely  wondering  how  long  that  sort  of  thing 
could  last  before  we  were  driven  back  by  the 
vastly  outnumbering  Russian  force. 

The  fusillade  only  lasted  about  ten  minutes ; 
but  during  that  time  no  fewer  than  thirteen 
Russian  horses  came  galloping  towards  us  rider- 


i877.]  A   GRAND    CHARGER    LOST.  26 1 

less,  showing  that  we  had  emptied  that  number 
of  saddles  at  least.  The  Russians  were  giving 
us  volley  after  volley ;  but  they  had  not  got  the 
range,  and  our  casualties  were  few. 

I  saw  a  very  fine  roan  charger,  which  had  lost 
his  rider,  come  galloping  towards  us  ;  and  I 
started  out  to  catch  him,  reckoning  that  he  would 
do  capitally  for  an  extra  mount,  and  to  give  my 
own  horse  a  spell.  Circassians,  however,  are 
keen  judges  of  a  horse,  and  a  fellow  on  my  left 
started  out  at  the  same  time  as  I  did  and  with 
the  same  object.  It  was  a  curious  experience  to 
be  dodging  bullets  between  the  two  lines  ;  but 
the  prize  was  worth  the  risk.  However,  when 
the  roan  saw  the  Circassian  and  myself  running 
up  with  outstretched  arms  to  stop  him,  he  took 
fright,  and,  wheeling  round,  galloped  back  to  his 
own  lines,  sending  the  earth  flying  behind  him 
in  all  directions.  The  Circassian  and  I,  looking 
rather  sheepish,  bolted  back  to  the  cover  of  the 
friendly  ridge,  which  we  both  reached  in  safety. 
We  only  had  two  casualties  so  far.  One  man 
was  shot  through  the  thigh  and  another  through 
the  shoulder.  I  treated  them  both  on  the  spot ; 
but  the  man  who  was  wounded  in  the  shoulder 
died  almost  immediately. 

The  Russians  brought  up  their  infantry  and 
artillery,  and  we  retired  as  hard  as  we  could  upon 
the  village  of  Netropol  with  the  enemy  in  hot 
pursuit.  We  were  only  a  handful,  and  things 


262  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

were  looking  pretty  serious,  when,  to  my  great 
relief,  I  heard  the  boom  of  answering  artillery 
and  caught  the  sound  of  shells  screaming  over- 
head. I  found  that  we  were  under  the  protection 
of  our  own  guns,  which  commanded  the  whole 
of  the  plain,  and  had  opened  on  the  advancing 
Russians.  We  exchanged  a  few  shots  in  the 
main  street  of  Netropol,  a  dirty  little  Bulgarian 
village  from  which  the  population  had  fled  ;  and 
at  one  time  the  Russians  were  so  close  to  us 
that  we  fired  our  revolvers  at  them.  We  re- 
treated towards  our  own  lines,  and  the  Russians 
dispersed  under  the  fire  of  our  artillery. 

As  we  were  riding  back  to  Plevna,  we  looked 
down  towards  the  Sofia  road  about  a  mile  away, 
and    saw  a  long  train   of  arabas  winding  along 
like  an  enormous  snake  towards   Plevna.     This 
was  the  great  train  of  provisions   and   supplies 
of  all  sorts  that  Hakki  Pasha  brought  up  from 
Sofia  and  Orkhanieh,  opening  up  communication 
again  with  Plevna,  and  forcing  a  passage  through 
the    Russian    opposition   with    reinforcements   of 
six  thousand  fresh  troops.     The  train  of  arabas 
was  more   than  a  mile  long,  and   the  extent  of 
the  convoy  may  be   gauged  from   the  fact   that 
there  were  about  three  hundred  waggons  full  of 
ammunition,  rations,  drugs,  and  medical  stores. 

As  we  were  watching  the  train  winding  along 
the  road,  a  trooper  came  galloping  up  and  told 
Mustapha  Bey  that  a  couple  of  Russian  regiments 


i877-]  LOSS    OF   OUR    MEDICAL    SUPPLIES.  263 

had   swooped   down   upon    the   tail    end   of  the 
convoy,    shot   a    few   men,    and   captured   thirty 
waggons   full   of  stores.      We  were   ordered   to 
go  in  pursuit,  and  away  we  went  at  a  gallop,  with 
the   object  of  intercepting  the   Russian  cutting- 
out  party  and  recapturing  the  precious  supplies. 
On  the  way  we   surprised  a  squadron  of  about 
sixty  Russian    cavalry  who  were   camping   in  a 
maize-field.       They   had   dismounted,    and   were 
resting  when  we  came  suddenly  upon  them  ;  but 
they  had  time  to  mount  and  gallop  off,  many  of 
them  leaving  their  carbines  behind  in  their  hurry. 
As  the  cutting-out  party  had  rejoined  their  main 
body,    it    was    hopeless    for    us    to    attempt    to 
recapture   the  waggons,   and   we  had   to   return 
reluctantly  to   Plevna.     It  was  a  fairly  exciting 
day's  work,  taking  it  all  through,  and  when  I  got 
back  I  had  spent  fourteen  hours  continuously  in 
the  saddle. 

We  settled  down  to  the  routine  of  camp  life 
afresh,  with  the  prospect  of  a  long  winter  siege 
before  us,  and  I  was  much  disheartened  to  find 
that  our  stock  of  medical  supplies  was  already 
almost  exhausted,  and  that  there  was  no  chance 
of  replenishing  them.  The  stock  of  drugs, 
bandages,  and  other  appliances  intended  for  our 
hospitals  was  unfortunately  contained  in  the  thirty 
waggons  which  the  Russians  carried  off. 

Although  the  prospect  was  gloomy  enough,  the 
troops  continued  in  excellent  spirits,  and  some  of 


264  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

the  daily  incidents  of  the  siege  were  decidedly 
humorous.  Two  days  after  the  Netropol  expedi- 
tion I  was  riding  out  towards  the  Lovtcha  road 
with  Czetwertinski,  when  we  came  upon  a  party 
of  about  a  dozen  Turks  jabbering  away  in  a 
great  state  of  excitement.  They  had  got  some- 
thing with  them,  and  from  a  distance  I  thought 
that  they  had  caught  a  hare,  but  when  we  rode 
up  we  found  that  it  was  a  Russian  hussar.  He 
spoke  to  Czetwertinski  in  Russian  and  told  his 
story.  It  seemed  that  he  was  with  his  company 
when  he  got  some  vodka,  and  imbibed  so  freely 
that  he  speedily  became  drunk  and  went  to  sleep. 
When  he  woke  up,  he  had  not  the  faintest  idea 
where  he  was,  and,  missing  his  company,  walked 
right  into  our  outposts,  where  the  men  on  duty 
collared  him.  He  was  still  very  drunk  when  we 
saw  him,  and  he  regarded  his  adventure  as  a 
capital  joke.  The  Turks  had  treated  him  very 
well,  and  he  was  smoking  cigarettes  which  they 
had  given  him,  surveying  his  captors  with  the 
fatuous  smile  of  semi-inebriety,  while  they  in  their 
turn  laughed  heartily  over  their  strange  find.  In 
due  course  he  was  escorted  into  Plevna,  and 
lodged  in  durance  as  a  prisoner  of  war.  I  never 
heard  what  became  of  him  afterwards  ;  but  he  was 
doubtless  more  comfortable  than  in  the  Russian 
trenches. 

We  were  in  hopes  that  we  should  be  able  to 
get   our  wounded  men   away  from   Plevna   now 


1877.]  KRONBERG    MY    COLLEAGUE.  265 

that  the  road  had  been  opened,  and  Osman  Pasha 
sent  orders  to  the  medical  quarters  for  us  to 
select  all  the  men  who  were  able  to  travel. 
However,  before  we  could  get  them  ready  the 
Russians  barred  the  road  again  with  a  strong 
force,  and  once  more  we  were  in  a  state  of  siege. 
During  the  two  days  that  the  road  was  open, 
however,  I  sent  Czetwertinski  away  invalided  to 
Constantinople,  and  with  him  the  German  artist 
Victor  Lauri.  It  was  a  very  good  thing  for 
Czetwertinski  that  he  left  Plevna  when  he  did, 
for  as  a  Russian  subject  it  would  have  gone  hard 
with  him  when  the  Russians  finally  took  the 
town.  When  the  war  was  over,  Czetwertinski 
met  Skobeleff  at  San  Stefano  and  lunched  with 
him.  Over  the  coffee  and  cigars  the  conversation 
naturally  turned  upon  the  recent  experiences  of 
both,  and  Czetwertinski  ventured  to  ask  his  host 
with  a  smile  what  would  have  happened  if  they 
had  met  earlier. 

"Oh!"  said  Skobeleff  pleasantly,  "we  knew 
that  you  were  in  Plevna  all  the  time,  and  we 
were  always  on  the  look  out  for  you.  If  I 
had  happened  to  come  across  you  there,  I  should 
have  had  you  shot  of  course." 

Kronberg  was  one  of  the  most  companionable 
of  my  medical  colleagues.  He  was  a  regular 
dare-devil,  always  ready  for  any  adventure ;  and 
one  afternoon  he  and  I  decided  to  go  and  pay 
a  visit  to  the  Bash  Tabiya,  the  second  redoubt 


266  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

opposite    Grivitza   which    commanded    the    main 
Grivitza  redoubt,  at  this  time  in  the  hands  of  the 
Russians.     We  rode  up  the  slope  of  the  Janik 
Bair,  tied  our  horses  to  a  tree  under  cover  from 
the  enemy's   fire,  and  advanced  cautiously  over 
the  exposed  ground.    We  had  to  run  the  gauntlet 
as  usual  for  about  thirty  yards ;  and  though  it  did 
not   take  us  more  than    three  or   four  seconds, 
several  bullets  whistled  past  us  from  the  Russian 
works.     They  used  to  watch  the  exposed  space 
with  field-glasses,  and  never  missed  an  opportunity 
of  having  a  "  pot  "  at  any  one  who  showed  himself 
either  there  or  above  the  parapets  of  the  redoubt 
or  trenches.     Our  men  of  course  used  to  return 
the  compliment  from  the  Bash   Tabiya.     When 
Kronberg  and  I  had  safely  passed  this  dangerous 
Tom  Tiddler's  ground,  we  struck  the  trenches  in 
which  my  regiment  was  encamped,  facing  north, 
and  I  went  to  call  on  my  colonel.     I  found  him 
living   like   a  prehistoric  troglodyte  in   a  neatly 
dug  hole  in  the  ground  about  four  hundred  yards 
from  the  redoubt.     The  hole  was  connected  by  a 
trench  with  the  redoubt,  so  that  the  colonel  could 
go  forward  and  come  back  without  drawing  the 
fire  of  the  enemy's  rifles.     It  was  about  seven 
feet  deep,  and  comfortably  furnished  with  Turkish 
rugs  and  brightly  coloured  praying-mats  to  keep 
out  the  damp.     After  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  chat, 
I  walked  along  the  connecting  trench,  which  was 
about  six  feet  deep,  and  wide  enough  to  allow  the 


DEAD  MEN'S  SHOES.  267 

men  to  move  about  freely.  In  the  clay  inner 
walls  tiers  of  bunks  had  been  hollowed  out  like 
sleeping-berths  on  board  ship,  and  the  "  watch 
below  "  were  lying  asleep,  wrapped  in  their  great- 
coats and  looking  like  mummies,  while  the  watch 
on  deck  kept  their  eyes  open  for  squalls.  Steps 
were  constructed  to  enable  the  firing  parties  to 
aim  over  the  parapet,  and  taking  off  my  fez  so 
as  not  to  attract  fire  I  cautiously  peered  over  the 
parapet.  I  took  up  a  rifle  and  had  a  few  shots 
without  seeing  the  result,  and  then  I  walked  on 
through  the  trench  and  entered  the  redoubt. 
The  first  sight  that  met  my  eyes  was  a  gruesome 
one,  for  the  bodies  of  ten  men  who  had  been 
killed  that  day  were  lying  at  the  entrance  awaiting 
burial. 

On  my  way  to  Sadik  Pasha's  abode  I  saw 
a  Turkish  soldier  wearing  a  very  fine  pair  of 
Russian  high  boots  that  had  evidently  belonged 
to  a  Russian  officer,  and  without  inquiring  too 
closely  how  they  had  been  procured  I  proceeded 
to  do  a  deal.  My  own  boots  were  thin  patent 
leather  riding-boots,  which  looked  very  nice,  but 
were  quite  unsuitable  for  walking ;  so  I  persuaded 
the  Turk  to  accept  them,  together  with  three 
piastres,  or  sixpence,  in  return  for  the  more  useful 
if  less  ornamental  pair.  The  faithful  servant  of 
the  Prophet  was  delighted  with  his  bargain,  and 
strutted  about  in  my  fashionable  Bond  Street 
patent  leathers  admiring  himself,  while  I,  for  my 


268  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

part,   had   changed   my   nationality   by    stepping 
literally  into  the  boots  of  a  Russian. 

Old  Sadik  Pasha  gave  me  a  warm  welcome. 
I  found  him  squatting  on  his  haunches,  with  a 
praying-mat  under  him,  looking  the  picture  of 
contented  cheerfulness.  As  the  weather  was 
pretty  hot,  he  had  rigged  an  awning  over  the  top 
of  his  subterranean  domicile  to  keep  the  sun  off, 
and  Kronberg  and  I  squatted  down  beside  him 
to  hear  all  the  news. 

It  was  like  dropping  in  to  see  a  man  at  his 
club — with  one  or  two  slight  differences.  Sadik 
Pasha  ordered  coffee  for  three  ;  and  though  we 
were  six  feet  underground,  the  Roumanians  in 
the  Grivitza  redoubt  must  have  divined  instinc- 
tively that  we  were  having  refreshments,  for  they 
decided  to  serve  dessert.  Finding  it  impossible 
to  do  much  with  the  ordinary  shells,  they  had 
pressed  a  mortar  into  the  service,  and  just  as  the 
man  was  coming  with  the  coffee  they  fired  another 
projectile  from  this  ingenious  engine  of  warfare. 
Now  the  specific  charm  of  the  mortar  is  that  it 
throws  a  shell  with  a  very  high  trajectory,  so 
that  the  projectile  can  soar  like  a  hawk  into  the 
heavens  and  swoop  down  perpendicularly  upon 
its  prey.  With  all  their  ingenuity  the  Turks  had 
not  succeeded  in  devising  a  protection  from  this 
mode  of  annoyance ;  and  as  the  Turkish  soldier 
was  coming  along  like  a  well  drilled  waiter  with 
a  tray  on  his  arm  containing  three  cups  of  coffee, 


i877.]  COFFEE    UNDER    DIFFICULTIES.  269 

the  mortar-shell  exploded  in  the  redoubt.  No 
one  was  killed,  but  a  fragment  of  the  casing 
knocked  the  tray  and  the  cups  and  saucers  into 
smithereens,  and  Sadik  Pasha  had  to  order 
"  The  same  again,  please."  This  time  the  coffee 
reached  the  consumer  without  any  interruption 
in  transit ;  and  I  was  in  the  act  of  drinking  mine 
when  another  shell  exploded  in  the  redoubt  about 
ten  feet  distant  from  where  we  were  sitting,  and 
made  a  hole  in  the  ground  big  enough  to  bury  a 
man  in.  I  was  so  startled  that  I  poured  the 
greater  part  of  my  coffee  over  my  breeches 
instead  of  into  my  mouth,  and  old  Sadik  Pasha 
chuckled  mightily  over  my  want  of  sang-froid. 
He  gave  me  a  cordial  invitation  to  come  and 
stop  with  him  for  a  week,  assuring  me  that  I 
would  soon  get  used  to  little  accidents  like  that. 

I  was  too  polite  to  tell  Sadik  Pasha  that,  much 
as  I  liked  his  company,  the  smell  round  his  house 
was  so  unpleasant  that  I  felt  obliged  to  decline 
his  invitation.  Owing  to  the  inability  of  the 
parlementaires  to  come  to  terms  at  the  conference 
which  I  have  already  described,  the  bodies  of  the 
Turks  and  Russians  lying  between  Sadik's  redoubt 
and  the  Grivitza  work  remained  unburied,  and  the 
stench  was  so  terrible  that  Kronberg  was  actually 
sick  while  we  were  calling  on  our  hardy  little 
entertainer,  and  I  myself  was  very  nearly  guilty 
of  the  same  solecism. 

Owing  to  the  vigilance  of  nos  amis  les  ennemis, 


270  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

who  saluted  us  so  warmly  on  our  arrival  at 
the  redoubt,  Kronberg  and  I  prolonged  our 
call  until  it  was  dusk,  and  amused  ourselves  as 
well  as  we  could  in  the  redoubt.  Occasionally 
we  elevated  a  fez  on  a  bayonet,  and  drew  the  fire 
of  a  dozen  Roumanian  rifles  at  once.  Then  we 
returned  the  compliment  with  much  empressement. 
In  this  pleasant  interchange  of  civilities  the  day 
wore  to  a  close ;  and  when  it  was  dark  we  said 
an  revoir  to  Sadik  Pasha,  slipped  out  at  the 
back,  found  our  horses,  and  rode  into  the  town 
again. 

Kronberg  was,  as  I  have  said,  a  capital  fellow, 
plucky  as  a  lion  and  generous  to  a  fault.  He 
hated  the  Bulgarians  bitterly,  but  never  allowed 
his  detestation  of  them  as  a  class  to  outweigh  his 
sense  of  justice.  There  was  a  Bulgarian  of  some 
rank  and  standing  in  Plevna  whom  Osman  Pasha 
suspected  of  allowing  his  Russophile  inclinations 
to  go  too  far.  In  fact,  the  Muchir  believed  that 
the  man  was  a  Russian  spy,  and  he  gave  orders 
to  have  him  shot.  Kronberg  and  Rookh  were 
quartered  in  this  Bulgarian's  house  ;  and  when  the 
sentence  was  made  known,  the  man's  wife  went 
to  them  in  a  terrible  state  of  grief  and  anxiety, 
imploring  them  on  her  knees  to  save  her  husband, 
and  swearing  with  the  most  solemn  protestations 
that  he  was  absolutely  innocent.  Kronberg  and 
Rookh  were  of  the  same  opinion  ;  and  knowing 
that  I  had  a  little  influence  with  the  headquarters 


1877.]  IN    HOSPITAL   AGAIN.  271 

staff,  they  came  to  me  and  asked  me  to  see 
Osman  Pasha  on  the  subject,  and  ask  him  to 
reconsider  his  decision.  Osman  Pasha  listened 
to  my  representations  very  courteously,  and  I 
was  so  far  successful  that  he  consented  to  the 
man  being  simply  locked  up  instead  of  being 
shot.  The  Bulgarian's  life  was  spared,  and  he 
was  sent  down  as  a  prisoner  to  Constantinople 
when  the  road  was  opened  up  by  Chefket  Pasha. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  my  hospital  work, 
which  had  previously  proceeded  on  regulated 
lines,  with  a  hopeful  measure  of  success  attending 
my  efforts,  began  to  degenerate  into  a  desperate, 
single-handed  struggle  against  wounds,  want, 
filth,  disease,  and  death. 

I  was  sent  to  take  charge  of  a  large  building 
which  had  been  converted  into  a  hospital,  and 
was  already  over-crowded  with  the  most  pitiable 
cases.  The  building  stood  in  several  acres  of 
ground  on  the  bank  of  the  Tutchenitza,  and  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  town,  up  stream. 
It  had  previously  been  occupied  by  a  wealthy 
Turk,  and  consisted  really  of  two  large  houses, 
one  behind  the  other,  and  connected  by  a  passage. 
The  house  in  the  rear  had  been  the  harem,  while 
the  one  in  front  had  been  occupied  by  the  old 
Turk  and  the  male  members  of  the  household. 
There  was  a  small  well  kept  garden  leading 
up  to  the  central  entrance,  and  a  picket  fence 
with  a  gate  shut  it  off  from  the  road.  There 


272  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

were  two  large  rooms,  one  on  each  side  of  the 
front  door,  and  two  more  behind  the  staircase, 
with  others  upstairs  and  in  the  building  attached 
at  the  rear.  Altogether  there  must  have  been 
about  twelve  large  rooms,  high,  fairly  well 
ventilated,  and  whitewashed  ;  but  more  than  half 
of  them  had  no  beds,  and  the  forms  of  the  tortured 
soldiers  were  huddled  together  in  their  clothes 
on  the  bare  boards.  When  I  went  there  first, 
I  had  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  to  look  after, 
and  the  task  appeared  such  a  hopeless  one 
that  my  heart  sank  within  me. 

We  had  a  hundred  beds  in  the  hospital,  and 
a  small  supply  of  extra  mattresses  and  blankets  ; 
but  those  were  soon  apportioned,  and  for  the 
other  unfortunates  nothing  remained  but  to  lie 
huddled  up  on  the  floor  in  the  clothes  in  which 
they  had  been  shot.  They  lay  on  the  floor  of 
the  passages  as  well  as  in  the  rooms,  and  were 
packed  so  closely  that  it  was  most  difficult  to 
pick  one's  way  through  the  hospital  without 
treading  on  them.  In  one  room,  fifteen  feet  by 
fifteen  feet,  I  had  sixteen  men,  all  hideously 
wounded,  dying  hard  on  the  hard  boards.  The 
bare,  whitewashed  walls  were  splashed  with  blood, 
which  had  turned  to  rusty  dark  brown  stains, 
and  the  horrors  of  the  place  can  only  be  faintly 
hinted  at.  I  was  the  only  medical  man  on 
duty  in  that  hospital,  with  a  couple  of  jarra  bashis, 
or  dispensers,  to  assist  in  dressing,  and  a  squad 


1877.]  FEARFUL    SCENES    OF    SUFFERING.  273 

of  Turkish  soldiers  as  hospital  nurses.  I  had 
chloroform,  it  is  true,  but  no  other  drugs  of 
any  kind ;  for  the  first  supply  of  medicines,  as  I 
have  explained  before,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Russians  when  they  captured  the  tail  waggons 
of  the  convoy.  Worse  than  all,  I  saw  with  dis- 
may that  the  stock  of  antiseptic  dressings  was 
giving  out,  and  that  unless  it  could  be  replenished 
the  fearful  scourge  of  hospital  gangrene  was 
already  threatening  us  closely. 

In  the  large  room  in  which  sixty  men  were  lying, 
some  on  stretcher-beds,  some  on  mattresses,  and 
many  on  the  floor,  the  boards  were  covered  with 
blood  and  filth  like  a  shambles.  Round  many 
of  the  sufferers  pools  of  pus  had  formed  on 
the  floor,  and  the  smell  was  terrible.  Here, 
where  these  brave  men  were  dying,  the  atmo- 
sphere was  intolerable,  stifling,  asphyxiating. 
As  their  eyes  roamed  round  that  house  of  suffer- 
ing instinctively  searching  for  relief,  they  rested 
at  intervals  on  small  glass  windows  set  high 
up  in  the  staring  whitewashed  wall.  Through 
the  latticed  panes  they  could  see  small  squares 
of  far  blue  sky,  and  now  and  then  there  flitted 
past  one  of  the  white  doves  that  Moslems  regard 
as  sacred,  on  its  way  to  the  willows  on  the  bank 
of  the  Tutchenitza. 

Presently  the  antiseptic  dressings  were  ex- 
hausted altogether,  and  I  had  to  fall  back  upon 
coloured  prints  from  the  bazaars  for  bandages, 

18 


274  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

and  to  plug  the  wounds  with  plain  cotton-wool, 
of  which  we  had  a  large  supply.  This  was 
non-absorbent,  and  naturally  when  treated  in 
this  way  the  wounds  became  frightfully  repulsive. 
It  was  impossible  to  keep  the  tissues  healthy, 
and  all  I  could  do  was  to  go  round  on  my 
hands  and  knees  from  one  man  to  another,  literally 
scraping  the  maggots  out  of  the  wounds  either 
with  my  finger  or  an  instrument.  The  unfor- 
tunate men  were  saturated  with  blood  and  pus 
from  their  wounds,  and  covered  with  maggots 
which  lodged  in  the  festering  tissues.  Often 
and  often,  as  I  went  round  the  "  wards  " — save 
the  mark — plodding  on  almost  in  despair  against 
the  dreadful  odds,  I  have  taken  the  plugging  of 
cotton-wool  out  of  a  gaping  wound,  and  found 
underneath  it  a  nest  of  maggots,  feeding  on  the 
flesh  of  the  still  living  man,  who  would  thank 
me  with  a  look  for  temporarily  relieving  him  of 
the  torture. 

In  one  small  ward  with  five  beds  in  it,  I  had 
five  men  who  were  the  finest  specimens  of 
humanity  that  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  I  became 
greatly  attached  to  them,  as  they  did  also  to 
me ;  and  it  was  pathetic  to  see  their  gratitude 
for  the  most  trifling  service.  One  of  them, 
with  his  strong  aquiline  face  and  piercing  eyes, 
reminded  me  very  much  of  a  statue  of  Dante 
which  I  had  seen  in  the  market-place  of  Verona. 
My  patient  had  been  shot  through  the  thigh. 


1877.]  ANTISEPTICS    EXHAUSTED.  275 

The  bone  had  been  dreadfully  smashed,  and  the 
whole  leg  was  a  mass  of  gangrened  flesh.  If 
I  could  have  operated,  I  might  have  saved  his 
life  ;  but  without  antiseptic  dressings,  and  without 
the  possibility  of  subsequent  careful  nursing,  an 
operation  was  out  of  the  question,  and  I  had 
to  watch  him  suffering  day  by  day  dying  literally 
by  inches. 

In  the  next  bed  was  an  Asiatic  Turk,  whose 
wound  was  a  peculiar  one.  A  rifle-bullet  had 
struck  the  top  of  his  skull,  and  cut  a  groove 
longitudinally  from  front  to  back  through  it.  I 
could  do  but  little  for  the  man,  except  to  keep 
the  wound  as  clean  as  possible,  and  the  poor 
fellow  suffered  great  pain.  He  used  to  be  con- 
tinually telling  me  of  his  wife  and  children,  in 
some  distant  Anatolian  village,  which  he  knew 
he  would  never  see  again,  and  he  was  very 
grateful  for  a  sympathetic  listener.  I  was  always 
afraid  of  brain  trouble  developing,  and  after 
about  a  week  of  suffering  he  became  delirious 
through  inflammation  of  the  membranes  of  the 
brain,  and  died  at  last  in  fearful  convulsions. 

Next  to  him  was  a  man  who  had  been  hit 
in  the  shoulder  by  a  piece  of  a  shell.  The 
bone  was  smashed  to  pieces,  and  several  days 
after  the  battle  I  took  a  piece  of  iron  as  large 
as  a  hen's  egg  from  a  great  hole  near  the 
man's  armpit.  I  asked  him  to  let  me  amputate 
the  arm  at  the  shoulder  joint ;  but  he  would  not 


276  THE    INVESTMENT    OF    PLEVNA. 

let  it  be  done,  and  he  was  still  alive  some  weeks 
afterwards  when  I  finally  left  Plevna.  The 
fourth  man  had  been  shot  in  the  thigh,  and 
the  wound  had  no  chance  of  healing  without 
proper  dressing.  I  used  to  squeeze  out  about 
a  pint  of  matter  from  it  every  day.  The  fifth 
patient  had  been  shot  in  the  clavicle,  and  had 
a  huge  ragged  wound  in  the  shoulder.  I  used 
to  stuff  it  with  cotton-wool,  and  try  to  keep 
the  maggots  from  collecting  in  the  cavity ;  but 
when  I  took  out  the  plug  of  wool,  there  were 
always  maggots  underneath  it.  Four  out  of  the 
five  were  dead  before  I  left  the  town. 

In  the  large  room,  which  contained  sixty  men, 
though  the  space  would  not  properly  accommo- 
date more  than  twenty,  I  had  several  cases  of 
blood-poisoning  due  to  the  colours  "  running  "  in 
the  cheap  prints  which  I  was  obliged  to  use  for 
bandages.  The  dyes  got  into  the  wounds,  and 
pyaemia  carried  off  the  men  like  rotting  sheep. 
The  food  up  to  this  period  was  still  fairly  goody 
and  we  had  plenty  of  good  water. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

Some  of  my  Hospital  Cases — A  Death  from  Jaundice — Small- 
pox and  Typhoid  Fever — Hospital  Gangrene — Waiting1  for 
the  Burial  Parties — Horrible  Depression — I  am  slightly 
wounded — Turkish  Florence  Nightingales — A  Ghastly  Case 
— I  am  powerless  for  want  of  Stores — The  Men  die  off  like 
Sheep — Arrival  of  a  Party  of  English  Doctors — A  Welcome 
Visit — Dr.  Bond  Moore  and  Dr.  Mackellar — Dr.  George 
Stoker  Sick — Interview  with  Osman  Pasha — His  Reception 
of  the  English  Doctors — Osman  Pasha's  Position — The  Eng- 
lish Doctors  indignant — Osman  Pasha  justified — A  Ride  to 
the  Krishin  Redoubts — The  English  Doctors  under  Fire 
— My  Reasons  for  leaving  Plevna — A  Farewell  Supper — 
Mustapha  Bey  and  the  Whisky — The  Departure  of  the 
Wounded — Good-bye  to  Plevna. 

ONE  very  peculiar  case  came  under  my  notice 
in  the  principal  ward.  It  was  that  of  a  man 
who  had  been  struck  by  a  spent  bullet  over  the 
region  of  the  liver.  The  wound  had  not  pene- 
trated the  flesh,  and  there  was  nothing  but  a 
small,  sloughing  sore  over  the  liver  to  indicate 
the  spot  where  the  man  had  been  hit.  Two  days 
afterwards  he  developed  acute  jaundice,  and  died 
in  three  days.  I  could  not  understand  it  at  the 
time,  but  it  struck  me  afterwards  that  the  blow 

from  the  bullet  had  ruptured  the  liver. 

277 


278  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

To  add  to  the  horrors  of  the  general  situation, 
confluent  small-pox  made  its  appearance  among 
the  wounded  ;  and  as  I  had  no  means  of  isolating 
the  patients,  it  quickly  spread.  Then  several 
cases  of  typhoid  fever  broke  out,  owing  to  the 
insanitary  conditions  ;  but  strangely  enough  the 
disease  did  not  spread,  and  the  mortality  from 
it  was  small.  Imagine  the  miseries  of  an  un- 
happy man,  who,  while  suffering  from  a  smashed 
thigh  which  prevented  him  from  even  moving 
to  resist  the  maggots  that  assailed  him,  was  then 
smitten  with  small-pox  or  typhoid  fever ! 

Little  by  little  the  septic  troubles  increased, 
and  at  last  the  crown  of  misery  was  reached  when 
hospital  gangrene  made  its  appearance.  Few 
civilian  medical  men  now  practising  have  ever 
seen  hospital  gangrene ;  but  the  records  of  the 
terrible  mischief  which  it  produced  in  the  days 
before  the  discovery  of  the  antiseptic  treatment 
are  still  extant.  The  patients  who  took  the 
hospital  gangrene  usually  suffered  considerably, 
while  they  rotted  away  before  my  eyes,  and  I 
was  powerless  to  help  them. 

The  men  also  got  covered  with  body  lice ;  and 
as  I  spent  fourteen  hours  a  day  as  a  rule  lifting 
them  up,  washing  them,  and  dressing  their  wounds, 
the  noxious  insects  attacked  me  too,  and  during 
the  whole  of  my  subsequent  stay  in  Plevna  I  was 
never  absolutely  free  from  them.  I  had  only  two 
flannel  shirts,  and  one  of  these  was  boiled  every 


i877.]  MY    FIRST    AND    LAST   WOUND.  279 

day  by  my  servant ;  but  in  spite  of  all  precautions, 
I  could  never  keep  free  from  the  insect  pests. 

Every  morning  when  I  went  to  the  hospital 
the  first  thing  that  met  my  eyes  as  I  opened  the 
little  wicket-gate  leading  into  the  garden  was  the 
row  of  corpses  of  the  men  who  had  died  during 
the  previous  night.  They  were  put  out  there  to 
wait  for  the  burial  parties,  and  the  sight  never 
failed  to  make  a  profound  impression  on  me.  As 
I  walked  past  them  up  the  path  the  sight  of 
those  dead  faces  fascinated  me ;  and  when  I  found 
among  them  men  who  were  my  special  favourites, 
and  who  had  told  me  the  stories  of  their  simple, 
uneventful  lives,  and  of  their  wives  and  children 
waiting  for  them  in  distant  parts  of  the  Turkish 
Empire,  a  feeling  of  overpowering  depression 
came  over  me.  I  was  so  utterly  helpless  to  save 
them,  and  I  was  fighting  such  a  hopeless  battle, 
that  once  or  twice  I  sat  down  in  the  hospital  and 
cried  like  a  child.  As  fast  as  the  men  died  fresh 
ones  were  brought  in,  and  often  I  found  that 
twenty  old  faces  had  gone  during  the  night  and 
that  the  same  number  of  new  ones  awaited  me 
in  the  morning.  Skirmishes  were  always  going 
on  between  the  outposts,  and  the  intermittent 
bombardment  claimed  a  daily  quota  of  victims, 
a  considerable  proportion  of  whom  were  sent 
to  me  for  treatment. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  I  was  wounded  for 
the  first  and  last  time  out  of  all  the  scores  of 


28O  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

occasions  that  I  have  been  under  fire.  It  was 
a  mere  flesh  wound,  little  more  indeed  than  a 
scratch  ;  but  as  I  was  in  a  very  low  state  of  health 
from  continuous  overwork  and  under-feeding,  the 
flesh  wound  set  up  a  local  condition  which  still 
further  reduced  my  strength,  and  contributed 
eventually  to  my  leaving  Plevna  for  a  short  rest. 
As  I  was  unable  to  get  back  again,  owing  to  the 
Russians  closing  the  road,  I  was  prevented  from 
witnessing  the  last  pathetic  scene  of  all,  when 
Osman  Pasha's  heroic  defence  was  exhausted, 
and  he  had  to  surrender  to  the  invader. 

A  chance  shot  from  a  Russian  field-gun  did  it 
for  me,  during  the  desultory  firing  that  went  on 
languidly  from  day  to  day  between  the  opposing 
redoubts.  I  was  riding  out  one  morning  to  visit 
Sadik  Pasha,  and  was  cantering  leisurely  across 
to  the  Bash  Tabiya,  when  I  heard  the  scream  of 
a  shell,  and  recognized  instinctively  that  it  was 
coming  my  way.  One  got  so  used  to  estimating 
the  course  of  shells  from  constant  practice  that  one 
could  pretty  well  tell  by  the  sound  where  a  par- 
ticular shell  was  likely  to  fall.  My  charger  too 
was  a  perfect  old  war-hardened  veteran,  and  he 
took  no  more  notice  of  a  shell  exploding  five  yards 
in  front  of  his  nose  than  if  it  had  been  a  custard- 
apple.  When  I  heard  the  whistle  of  the  shell,  I 
stuck  the  spurs  in  and  tried  to  get  out  of  the 
way  in  time  ;  but  I  did  not  succeed,  and  when  it 
exploded  a  bit  of  the  casing  took  me  in  the  back 


i877,]  HORRIBLE    DEPRESSION.  281 

of  the  neck  with  a  sharp,  burning  shock  that  felt 
as  if  I  had  been  struck  with  a  piece  of  red-hot 
iron.  When  I  put  my  hand  up  to  the  place,  I 
drew  it  back  covered  with  blood  ;  but  I  quickly 
discovered  that  it  was  a  mere  surface  wound, 
and  when  I  got  back  to  town  and  bandaged  it,  I 
found  that  it  did  not  in  the  least  interfere  with 
the  performance  of  my  medical  duties.  However, 
an  abscess  formed  on  the  place,  and  troubled  me 
a  good  deal. 

I  was  very  much  overworked.  Neither  food 
nor  rest  was  plentiful.  I  never  saw  a  com- 
patriot, and  I  spent  all  my  waking  hours  in  the 
midst  of  horrible  sufferings  which  I  was  power- 
less to  alleviate.  It  was  no  wonder,  under  these 
circumstances,  that  I  became  despondent ;  and 
after  this  lapse  of  time  I  may  as  well  confess  that 
the  thought  occurred  to  me  whether  it  would 
not  be  better  to  blow  my  brains  out  than  go  on 
in  the  misery  any  longer.  But  when  I  looked 
round  on  those  magnificent  men — more  long- 
suffering,  patient,  and  courageous  men  I  have 
never  seen  in  my  life — I  banished  the  dark 
thought,  and  went  back  to  the  work  with  all  the 
spirit  I  could  muster.  Sometimes  even  now 
when  I  lie  awake  at  night  I  see  myself  again 
dressed  in  a  blood-stained  shirt  and  pair  of 
trousers,  as  I  picked  my  way  among  the  huddled 
forms  with  their  ashen  faces  bound  up  in  those 
fantastic  bandages  of  coloured  print.  I  see  the 


282  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

pools  of  curdled  blood  on  the  floor,  the  staring 
whitewashed  walls,  and  the  little  squares  of  blue 
sky  through  the  latticed  windows.  I  hear  the 
stifled  moans  and  I  catch  the  delirious  murmurs 
of  that  Anatolian  Turk  as  in  his  death-throes, 
like  FalstaffJ  "  he  babbled  o'  green  fields." 

Although  we  had  no  female  nurses,  still  I  found 
that  the  Turkish  women,  whenever  they  had  an 
opportunity,  attended  to  the  wounded  with  the 
devotion  of  a  Florence  Nightingale.  There  was 
a  small  outbuilding  in  the  grounds  that  sur- 
rounded the  hospital,  and  this  also  was  filled  with 
wounded.  One  day  I  found  two  Turkish  women 
there,  and  learned  that  they  were  frequent  visitors, 
bringing  milk  and  broth  to  the  wounded.  When 
I  saw  them,  they  were  moving  silently  about  in 
their  long  white  robes,  with  only  the  eyes  showing 
through  their  thick  yashmaks.  One  exceptionally 
hideous  case  in  the  outbuilding  received  attention 
from  them.  The  man  had  been  struck  on  the 
side  of  the  face  by  a  shell,  which  carried  away 
the  whole  of  his  upper  and  lower  jaws.  Only 
his  eyes  remained,  looking  plaintively  out  above 
the  mangled  mass  that  had  once  been  a  human 
face.  The  Turkish  women  could  just  see  by  the 
roots  of  the  tongue  the  position  of  the  gullet, 
and  they  kept  the  unfortunate  wretch  alive  for 
four  days  by  pouring  milk  down  his  throat. 

One  evening,  as  I  was  leaving  the  hospital 
almost  heart-broken,  three  men  were  brought 


1877.]  ARRIVAL    OF    ENGLISH    DOCTORS.  283 

in,  and  I  went  back  to  attend  to  them.  One 
man  had  both  his  legs  taken  off  by  a  shell  from 
a  heavy  siege-gun,  and  was  blanched  from  loss 
of  blood  ;  the  second  had  been  struck  by  a  shell, 
which  had  carried  away  arm  and  shoulder  to- 
gether ;  the  third  was  shot  through  the  lungs  by 
a  rifle-bullet.  Next  morning,  when  I  returned  to 
the  hospital,  I  saw  the  three  men  lying  out  dead 
on  the  path  as  soon  as  I  opened  the  gate.  Some 
idea  of  the  hopelessness  of  my  position  may  be 
gathered  by  the  medical  reader,  when  he  learns 
that  I  had  forty-seven  compound  comminuted 
fractures  under  my  hands  at  one  time,  and  all 
were  suppurating,  while  I  had  no  appliances  of 
any  kind  for  dressing  them  properly. 

This  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Chefket 
Pasha  opened  up  the  road  from  Sofia  again  with 
a  relief  column  bringing  up  under  his  escort  a 
supply  of  medical  stores  and  a  party  of  English 
doctors  who  desired  to  volunteer  their  services. 
The  head  of  the  medical  party  was  Dr.  Bond 
Moore ;  and  very  picturesque  he  looked  when  he 
arrived  in  his  Circassian  dress.  With  him  was 
Dr.  Mackellar,  who  had  gained  a  reputation  in 
the  Franco-Prussian  war,  and  was  a  well  known 
authority  on  gunshot  wounds.  Then  there  was 
Mr.  David  Christie  Murray,  who  was  at  that  time 
a  war  correspondent,  but  was  introduced  to  me 
as  a  medical  student,  and  in  that  capacity  had 
an  opportunity  of  inspecting  my  hospital,  which 


284  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

he  afterwards  described  very  graphically  in  the 
Scotsman.  A  man  named  Smith,  who  was  in 
the  Indian  Civil  Service,  and  who  had  come  up 
for  the  sake  of  the  adventure,  was  another 
member  of  the  party,  which  also  included  my  old 
friend  George  Stoker,  now  a  Harley  Street 
physician.  Last,  but  not  least,  there  was  Captain 
Morisot,  a  charming  fellow,  who  was  afterwards 
with  me  at  Erzeroum. 

The  visitors  hunted  me  up  when  they  arrived, 
and  we  had  a  great  supper  at  my  quarters.  It 
was  an  intense  relief  to  meet  some  of  my  own 
countrymen  at  last,  and  I  was  so  glad  to  see 
them  that  I  distributed  all  my  curios  among 
them,  presenting  to  these  strangers  the  crosses 
in  bronze  and  gold,  the  lockets,  and  the  other 
trinkets  that  had  belonged  to  Russian  owners 
before  they  were  sold  in  the  Plevna  bazaars  as 
grim  treasure-trove  of  the  battle-field. 

Dr.  Mackellar  was  an  old  friend,  for  I  had 
met  him  before  the  war  when  I  was  in  Vienna  ; 
and  I  was  delighted  also  to  meet  George  Stoker, 
who  was  one  of  my  fellow  passengers  when  I 
came  down  the  Danube.  It  is  difficult  for  any 
one  who  has  never  been  placed  in  such  a  position 
to  form  an  idea  of  the  delightful  sensation  which 
I  experienced  at  meeting  with  English-speaking 
men  again  after  a  period  of  seventeen  months 
spent  out  of  the  hearing  of  my  mother  tongue. 
Imagine  the  feelings  of  an  Englishman  when  he 


1877.]  DRS.    MOORE    AND    MACKELLAR.  285 

first  catches  sight  of  the  white  cliffs  of  Dover 
after  long  travelling  in  foreign  lands  ;  or  think  of 
the  sensations  of  an  Australian  returning  after 
a  couple  of  years  in  Europe  when  he  sees  the 
lights  at  Port  Phillip  Heads  or  the  entrance  to 
Sydney  Harbour  again.  My  feelings  were  similar 
when  I  dropped  my  Turkish  and  picked  up  my 
half-forgotten  English  once  more  in  the  presence 
of  men  of  my  own  race,  whose  cheerful  talk 
dispelled  the  gloomy  thoughts  which  my  daily 
struggle  against  the  ever  increasing  forces  of 
suffering  and  disease  had  engendered. 

The  wound  on  the  back  of  my  neck  was  very 
painful,  and  the  large  abscess  which  had  formed 
on  it  had  still  further  reduced  my  system.  Dr. 
Mackellar  lanced  it  for  me  the  first  night  he  was 
in  Plevna,  and  this  gave  me  great  relief. 

George  Stoker  had  a  bad  attack  of  dysentery 
when  he  arrived,  and  he  arranged  to  stop  at  my 
place  so  that  I  could  look  after  him  more  easily. 
I  opened  up  negotiations  with  my  little  fair-haired 
Bulgarian  boy,  who  managed,  with  a  good  deal  of 
trouble,  to  get  me  some  milk,  and  thus  I  was 
enabled  to  provide  proper  diet  for  the  invalid. 

On  the  morning  after  the  arrival  of  the  English 
medical  party,  Dr.  Bond  Moore,  with  Mr.  Harvey, 
a  man  of  English  parentage,  who  was  born  in 
the  Levant  and  spoke  Turkish  like  a  Turk, 
together  with  Dr.  Mackellar,  waited  upon  Osman 
Pasha  in  his  tent.  Dr.  Bond  Moore  explained 


286  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

to  Osman  Pasha  through  Mr.  Harvey  that  they 
had  been  sent  out  by  the  Stafford  House  Com- 
mittee, a  large  national  organization  in  London 
which  had  collected  ,£50,000  for  the  purpose  of 
relieving  the  sufferings  caused  by  the  war  in 
Turkey.  They  desired  to  undertake  the  care  of 
the  wounded  Turks  then  in  Plevna. 

Now  Osman  Pasha  was  essentially  a  man  of 
action.  Though  there  was  plenty  of  the  fortiter 
in  re  about  him,  there  was  little  of  the  suaviter 
in  modo  ;  and  Bond  Moore  and  Mackellar,  who 
did  not  know  him  as  well  as  I  did,  jumped  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  was  intentionally  discourteous 
in  his  reception  of  them  and  in  his  reply  to  their 
representations.  He  pointed  out  to  them  that 
of  the  four  thousand  wounded  men  who  were 
then  in  the  hospitals,  more  than  two-thirds  would 
be  sent  away  to  Sofia  on  the  following  day,  now 
that  the  road  had  been  opened  up  by  Chefket 
Pasha.  This  determination  on  his  part,  he 
explained,  was  dictated  by  consideration  for  the 
wounded  as  well  as  for  the  rest  of  the  troops  in 
Plevna.  They  would  receive  better  treatment 
at  Sofia,  they  would  leave  more  rations  for  the 
fighting  men,  and  there  would  again  be  room  in 
the  hospitals  available  for  the  wounded  men  who 
might  be  expected  after  future  engagements. 
Probably,  continued  Osman,  not  more  than  four 
hundred  wounded  men  would  be  left  in  the 
hospitals  when  the  ambulance  train  went  away, 


i877.]  OSMAN    PASHA   INEXORABLE.  287 

and  meanwhile  the  medical  staff  at  his  disposal 
was  quite  strong  enough  to  cope  with  the  work. 
He  also  had  another  powerful  reason  for  sending 
away  the  wounded  in  the  overcrowding  of  the 
hospitals,  which  was  causing  terrible  devastation 
by  septic  disease ;  and  we  knew  that  if  the  con- 
gested wards  were  relieved,  we  might  get  the 
upper  hand  of  the  gangrene  and  pyaemia  which 
were  doing  all  the  damage. 

Naturally  enough  Bond  Moore  and  Mackellar 
were  staggered  to  find  that,  after  travelling  all 
the  way  from  England  and  incurring  a  good 
many  hardships  on  the  way,  they  were  not  to 
be  allowed  to  do  the  work  for  which  they  had 
been  sent.  They  represented  to  Osman  Pasha 
the  danger  of  sending  away  on  a  long  and  terrible 
journey  wounded  men  who  were  quite  unfit  to 
travel  ;  and  Bond  Moore,  as  the  spokesman, 
entered  a  vigorous  protest  against  the  "  gross 
inhumanity "  of  the  course  proposed  by  the 
Turkish  commander-in-chief.  Osman  Pasha, 
however,  was  inexorable ;  and  always  a  brusque 
and  stern  man  at  the  best,  he  became  still  more 
forbidding  in  his  manner  when  the  English 
doctors  reiterated  their  protests.  The  deputation 
left  the  tent  in  high  dudgeon  at  what  they 
regarded  as  the  discourtesy  of  their  reception, 
and  Were  thoroughly  disappointed  after  reaching 
Plevna  in  safety  to  be  peremptorily  ordered  to 
quit  it  at  once. 


288      THE  HORRORS  OF  THE  HOSPITAL. 

As   a   further    protest,    Dr.    Mackellar   waited 
upon   Hassib   Bey,  our  principal  medical  officer, 
and  I  was  present  at  the  interview,  in  which  the 
English  surgeon  told  the  old  Turk  that  it  was 
a   disgrace    to    humanity   to   send   the   wounded 
away   by   carts    in    the    condition    in   which   they 
were.       The    conversation     was    carried    on    in 
French,  and  Dr.  Mackellar  spoke  very  strongly, 
declaring    that    it    was    a   barbarous    and    brutal 
thing   to   send   the   wounded   men    away,    many 
of  whom  he  considered,  as   a  surgeon   of  large 
experience,  to    be   quite   unfit   to   travel.     I  felt 
quite  sorry  for  poor  old  Hassib  Bey,   especially 
as   I  myself,    with   a   full  comprehension    of  the 
whole    position,   was    thoroughly  in    accord    with 
Osman   Pasha's  view.     It  was  perfectly  plain  to 
me  that    the  wisest  course   was  to   despatch  the 
wounded   men  from    out    the    crowded   hospitals 
into  the  fresh  air  and  away  to  Sofia.     No  doubt 
a   percentage   of  them    would    die   on   the  road 
from  the  actual  hardship  of  travel ;   but  if  they 
were  left  in  Plevna,  a  far  larger  proportion  would 
inevitably  die  of  septic  diseases,  while  the  con- 
gested condition  of  the  hospitals  would  be  still 
further   aggravated,    and   slow   starvation   would 
add  shortly  to  the  sufferings  of  the  unfortunates. 
The   proof  of  the   wisdom    of    Osman    Pasha's 
action  was  very  manifest  afterwards ;  for  though 
he  was  starved  out  eventually,  he  could  not  have 
held  the  town  nearly  as  long  as  he  did  if  he  had 


i877-]  ENGLISH   DOCTORS    INDIGNANT.  289 

not  seized  the  opportunity  when    the   road  was 
open  to  send  the  wounded  away. 

Hassib  Bey  listened  deprecatingly  to  Dr. 
Mackellar's  spirited  protest;  but  the  fiat  had 
gone  forth  from  headquarters,  and  he  was 
powerless  to  accede  to  his  visitor's  request  even 
if  he  had  the  inclination. 

Dr.  Bond  Moore  sent  in  a  formal  written  pro- 
test to  Osman  Pasha,  who  vouchsafed  no  reply, 
and  the  Stafford  House  surgeons  spent  the  rest 
of  the  day  examining  my  hospital.  In  connection 
with  this  incident  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Stafford 
House  doctors  from  Plevna,  I  may  reproduce 
the  report  on  the  subject,  which  I  afterwards 
sent  to  Mr.  V.  B.  Kennett,  the  Stafford  House 
commissioner.  My  report,  which  was  published  in 
the  Times  of  November  15,  1877,  ran  as  follows : 

"  At  your  request  I  write  to  you  a  short 
account  of  the  state  of  Plevna  on  the  occasion 
of  the  visit  of  Dr.  Bond  Moore,  Stafford  House 
section,  and  the  circumstances  attending  the 
evacuation  of  the  wounded.  When  Drs.  Bond 
Moore  and  Mackellar  arrived  in  Plevna,  we 
had  in  our  hospitals  there  between  four  and 
five  thousand  wounded,  probably  three  thousand 
five  hundred  of  them  having  received  their 
wounds  between  September  5  and  October 
12,  the  remainder  being  the  graver  cases  of 
our  former  fighting  which  were  considered  too 
serious  to  send  on  to  Sofia.  We  have  always 

19 


290  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

received  orders  after  any  heavy  fighting  to 
send  off  all  who  were  not  too  gravely  wounded 
to  Sofia,  and  so  we  have  by  this  means  never 
had  more  than  five  or  six  hundred  in  our 
hospitals.  But  unfortunately,  during  the  hard 
fighting  in  September,  we  were  completely  sur- 
rounded by  the  Russians,  and  were  actually, 
so  to  speak,  in  a  state  of  siege,  so  that  we  had 
the  accumulation  of  nearly  a  month's  fighting  in 
addition  to  the  graver  cases  of  our  earlier  battles. 
Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Chefket  Pasha 
relieved  Plevna,  and  when  Drs.  Moore  and 
Mackellar  arrived  and  kindly  offered  to  form 
hospitals  in  Plevna.  On  presenting  themselves 
to  Osman  they  were  received  quite  courteously. 
He  told  them  he  was  very  glad  to  see  them, 
but  that  if  they  were  sent  in  the  real  cause  of 
humanity,  and  to  assist  his  wounded,  he  much 
preferred  them  leaving  for  Sofia  and  establish- 
ing themselves  there ;  if,  however,  they  wished 
to  remain  and  see  the  fighting,  they  were  perfectly 
welcome  to  do  so,  but  if  they  did  they  would 
have  very  little  work  to  do,  as  he  was  sending 
nearly  all  the  wounded  to  Sofia,  and  for  those 
who  were  remaining  he  had  a  sufficient  staff  of 
surgeons.  His  reasons  for  sending  away  the 
wounded  must  appear  most  obvious  to  any  one 
knowing  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  I  believe 
that  it  is  always  one  of  the  first  considerations 
of  a  general,  after  a  battle,  to  send  off  as  soon 


1877.]  OSMAN    PASHA    JUSTIFIED.  2QI 

as  possible  all  wounded  who  are  in  a  state 
to  travel,  in  order  to  make  room  for  further 
fighting.  In  addition  to  this  main  consideration, 
I  must  state  that  our  accommodation  was  very 
insufficient,  that  many  of  our  hospitals  consisted 
of  houses  without  windows,  and  we  were  fearfully 
overcrowded,  often  having  thirty  men  in  a  room 
only  large  enough  for  ten.  Then,  again,  we 
had  no  beds,  and  could  not  procure  them  as 
there  was  no  wood  to  make  them  of.  Another 
great  consideration  was  that  we  had  not  sufficient 
nor  proper  food,  having  only  the  bare  necessaries 
of  life,  such  as  biscuits  and  meat.  From  a 
sanitary  point  of  view,  it  was  also  extremely 
desirable  to  remove  them  as  quickly  as  possible, 
thereby  lessening  the  chances  of  an  epidemic, 
which  is  always  liable  to  break  out  when  such 
a  large  population  is  confined  in  a  small  area. 
It  was,  I  believe,  in  1866  that  a  very  serious 
epidemic  of  cholera  broke  out  in  Plevna.  Of  the 
four  thousand  five  hundred  wounded  I  believe 
that  all  but  two  hundred  and  fifty  were  sent  off, 
the  wounds  of  those  remaining  being  of  the  very 
gravest  character.  Most  of  the  wounds  of  those 
sent  away  were  very  slight,  being  flesh  wounds 
caused  by  bullets,  which  would  be  perfectly  healed 
in  from  twenty  to  thirty  days.  I  believe  in  all 
about  sixty  or  seventy  cases  of  fracture  were 
sent  off;  in  most  of  them  union  had  already 
occurred,  and  in  those  in  which  it  had  not  I  am 


292  THE    HORRORS    OF   THE    HOSPITAL. 

of  opinion  that  they  stood  a  better  chance  of 
recovery  by  their  removal  from  a  hospital  im- 
pregnated with  septic  germs  into  a  purer  atmo- 
sphere and  where  they  could  have  more  attention 
paid  to  them.  Dr.  George  Stoker  took  with  him 
in  his  ambulance  to  Orkhanieh  forty  cases,  but 
it  must  be  remembered  that  these  were  the  very 
gravest.  Three  of  them  died  on  the  way  ;  but 
as  they  were  cases  out  of  my  own  hospital  I  can 
speak  about  them  with  confidence,  and  can  say 
that  in  the  most  favourable  circumstances  recovery 
would  have  been  impossible.  Osman  Pasha  also 
acted  with  foresight  from  a  military  point  of 
view ;  for  had  he  not  sent  off  his  wounded,  and 
had  Stafford  House  and  the  Red  Crescent  retained 
them  in  hospitals  established  there,  what  would 
be  their  position  at  present  now  that  Plevna  is 
again  surrounded  by  the  Russians  ?  It  must  be 
a  matter  of  satisfaction  to  Osman  Pasha  to  have 
sent  off  as  many  of  the  non-combatant  population 
as  possible,  for  it  must  be  a  great  drain  on  one's 
commissariat  to  have  to  feed  four  or  five  thousand 
non-combatants  in  a  place  like  Plevna  where 
provisions  are  so  difficult  to  procure.  I  may 
add  that  I  consider  I  am  in  a  position  to  speak 
with  authority  on  such  a  subject,  as  I  have  been 
for  fifteen  months  in  the  Turkish  service,  and  for 
the  last  five  have  been  in  Plevna." 

When  the  medical  men'went  round  my  hospital, 
they  saw  the  horrors  among  which  I  had    been 


1877.]  THE    KRISHIN    REDOUBTS.  293 

working  for  the  previous  month,  and  then  I  took 
them  out  to  our  operating  theatre  under  the  blue 
sky  on  the  banks  of  the  Tutchenitza.  Here 
Dr.  Mackellar  performed  several  operations,  and 
showed  us  some  brilliant  surgery,  including  four 
disarticulations  of  the  shoulder  joint. 

Next  day  we  all  rode  out  to  the  Krishin 
redoubt  which  Skobeleff  had  taken,  and  which 
was  soon  afterwards  recaptured  with  fearful  loss. 
I  was  able  to  point  out  the  exact  spot  where 
the  heaviest  of  the  fighting  had  taken  place  to 
Dr.  Bond  Moore,  Dr.  Mackellar,  and  Mr.  David 
Christie  Murray,  who  were  naturally  interested 
in  making  a  personal  inspection  of  the  scene  of 
such  a  great  historical  fight. 

As  the  four  of  us  rode  away  in  a  southerly 
direction  to  the  Ibrahim  Bey  redoubt,  the  Russian 
artillerymen  saw  us,  and  in  a  couple  of  seconds 
the  Stafford  House  doctors  and  the  war  corre- 
spondent had  an  experience  which  struck  them 
with  all  the  force  of  the  novel  and  the  unexpected. 
The  Russians  fired  six  shells  at  us,  and  it  cer- 
tainly was  a  wonder  that  some  of  us  were  not 
killed,  for  the  artillerymen  had  found  the  range 
by  long  practice  at  the  redoubts,  and  their  shells 
fell  all  round  us.  It  was  no  novelty  for  me  to 
hear  the  projectiles  whizzing  about,  but  I  was 
surprised  at  the  courage  and  coolness  with  which 
the  visitors  behaved,  and  luckily  all  four  of  us 
came  out  of  it  without  a  scratch. 


294  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

That  evening  I  thought  the  whole-  position 
over,  and  determined  to  apply  for  a  short  leave  of 
absence,  and  take  a  trip  down  to  Constantinople 
with  the  intention  of  returning  to  Plevna  in  a 
couple  of  weeks.  I  should  not  have  dreamed  of 
leaving  the  position  so  long  as  I  could  be  of  any 
real  service  there  ;  but  most  of  the  wounded  men 
were  about  to  be  sent  away,  and  there  would  be 
nothing  left  for  me  to  do.  In  addition  to  this,  I 
was  in  a  very  bad  state  of  health.  I  had  a  large 
suppurating  cavity  at  the  back  of  my  neck  from 
my  wound,  and  my  system  had  completely  run 
down.  My  mother,  whom  I  had  not  seen  for  years, 
was  then  in  Europe,  and  I  thought  that  it  would 
be  a  capital  opportunity  to  run  down  and  see 
her.  Moreover,  my  agreement  with  the  Turkish 
Government  was  for  only  one  year,  and  I  had 
already  been  serving  for  seventeen  months.  It 
was  these  considerations,  and  not,  as  was  after- 
wards stated  in  various  newspapers,  the  refusal  of 
Osman  Pasha  to  avail  himself  of  the  assistance 
of  the  Stafford  House  doctors,  that  induced  me 
to  interview  Hassib  Bey  and  apply  for  leave  of 
absence.  I  asked  him  for  leave  of  absence  for 
two  or  three  weeks,  pointing  out  that  nearly  all 
the  wounded  would  be  sent  away,  and  that  there 
was  no  immediate  likelihood  of  any  more  fighting 
before  I  returned.  Hassib  Bey  said  that  he  would 
give  me  leave  with  very  great  pleasure,  and  he 
voluntarily  gave  me  a  letter  to  the  Seraskierat,  in 


18/7.]  REASONS    FOR    LEAVING    PLEVNA.  295 

which  he  was  good  enough  to  express  the  very 
highest  appreciation  of  my  services.  In  fact, 
it  was  practically  impossible  for  any  man  to  get 
a  higher  testimonial  than  that  which  Hassib  Bey 
gave  me  on  the  eve  of  my  departure  from  Plevna. 
He  suggested  that  I  should  ask  Osman  Pasha 
to  ratify  the  leave  of  absence  ;  and  Tewfik  Pasha 
having  conducted  me  into  Osman  Pasha's  pre- 
sence, I  repeated  my  application  to  him,  assuring 
him  that  I  would  not  think  of  leaving  as  long  as 
there  was  any  work  for  me  to  do.  The  Muchir 
thanked  me  for  my  services,  of  which  he  expressed 
high  appreciation,  and  hoped  to  see  me  back  in 
Plevna. 

If  I  could  have  foreseen  that  the  road  would  be 
blocked  again  by  the  Russians,  and  that  it  would  be 
impossible  for  me  to  return  once  I  left  the  town,  I 
would  have  stayed  by  the  troops  at  all  costs.  I 
was  devoted  to  the  Turkish  army  and  the  Turkish 
cause.  I  never  spared  myself  in  carrying  out 
my  duties,  and  I  was  bound  by  the  strongest  ties 
of  attachment  to  my  patients,  as  they  were  also, 
I  felt  and  knew,  to  me.  I  positively  loved  the 
great,  rough  barbarians  who  bore  their  sufferings 
with  such  noble  fortitude  in  my  hospital,  and 
during  the  whole  of  my  time  in  Plevna  I  never 
had  the  slightest  unpleasantness  with  a  single 
one  of  them,  and  received  always  the  greatest 
gratitude  from  them  all.  At  that  time  there  was 
no  Turk  in  Plevna  more  Turkish  in  sympathies 


296  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

than  I  was.  I  threw  my  whole  heart  and  soul 
and  all  my  energies  into  the  Turkish  cause,  and 
no  one  could  have  gone  through  all  that  I  had 
without  being  impressed  with  a  feeling  of  the 
most  profound  admiration  for  the  patience, 
courage,  and  heroic  patriotism  of  the  Turkish 
private  soldier.  Intending  as  I  did  to  remain 
away  for  a  couple  of  weeks  at  most,  I  felt  that 
the  parting  was  only  temporary ;  and  when  I 
went  to  say  good-bye  to  the  colonel  of  my 
regiment,  Suleiman  Bey,  he  wished  me  a  cheery 
au  revoir,  expecting  to  see  me  soon  back  again. 
I  had  quite  an  affecting  farewell  with  dear  old 
Hassib  Bey,  and  I  also  went  round  and  said 
good-bye  to  all  my  intimate  friends  and  the  men 
with  whom  I  had  been  brought  most  closely 
into  contact.  It  was  a  great  disappointment  to 
me  that  I  could  not  find  the  regimental  barber, 
a  little  red-headed  Turk,  who  used  to  shave 
me  every  Sunday,  whether  there  was  firing  in 
progress  or  not,  making  me  sit  down  on  the 
ground  and  taking  my  head  between  his  knees 
for  the  better  performance  of  his  task.  Anxious 
as  I  was  to  make  him  a  little  present  in  recogni- 
tion of  his  skill  and  punctuality,  I  was  unable  to 
find  him.  Like  his  brethren  of  the  craft  in  other 
countries,  he  was  a  most  loquacious  conversation- 
alist, and  I  got  all  the  gossip  of  the  trenches 
during  the  ten  minutes  that  I  was  under  his 
hands  every  Sunday. 


I877-]  A    FAREWELL    SUPPER.  297 

My  Circassian  servant  Ahmet  had  to  go  back 
to  the  ranks,  much  to  his  disgust,  when  I  went 
away,  and  from  that  time  forward  his  lot  was  by 
no  means  such  a  happy  one  as  before.  Instead 
of  leisurely  cooking  my  pilaf,  grooming  my  horse, 
and  occasionally  raiding  the  country  for  hay, 
poultry,  eggs,  or  anything  else  that  he  could  get  for 
his  own  benefit  as  well  as  mine,  the  poor  fellow 
had  to  take  his  place  in  the  wet  trenches,  with  no 
bed  but  a  hole  scooped  in  the  clay,  and  little  to 
expect  in  the  way  of  breakfast  except  a  bullet. 

Dr.  Stoker  had  about  twenty  smooth-running 
ambulance  waggons  specially  built  for  the  convey- 
ance of  wounded  men,  and  having  loaded  these 
up  with  the  most  dangerous  cases  he  set  out  on 
the  long  journey  to  Sofia.  Having  no  further 
use  for  a  horse,  I  sold  mine  to  Dr.  Mackellar, 
and  took  my  passage  in  one  of  the  ambulance 
waggons.  Then  the  night  before  I  left  Plevna 
the  other  fellows  gave  us  a  great  send  off,  and 
we  had  a  splendid  supper  at  the  house  of  Dr. 
Robert,  who,  I  regret  to  say,  became  hopelessly 
intoxicated,  and  insisted  on  yelling  patriotic  songs 
in  half  a  dozen  languages,  while  he  thumped  his 
piano  until  the  yellow-faced  Viennese  housekeeper 
hauled  him  off  in  wrath  and  turned  us  all  out. 
Poor  Robert !  Long  before  this  we  had  eaten 
all  his  zoological  specimens,  his  tame  deer  as  well 
as  his  poultry  ;  but  he  forgave  us  all.  I  never 
saw  him  again. 


298  THE    HORRORS    OF    THE    HOSPITAL. 

Old  Mustapha  Bey  was  quite  concerned  when 
I  told  him  that   I   was  going  away.     I   had  won 
the   good-will   of    this   crusty    old   colonel   of  a 
regiment  of  cavalry  some  weeks   before   by  the 
promise  of  a  gift  of  some  real  Scotch  whisky, 
which  the  old  chap  had  read  of  but  never  tasted. 
He  was   an   inveterate  toper  when   he   got   the 
chance,  being  in  this  respect  quite  a  rarity  in  the 
Ottoman  army,  and  would  drink  raki  or  anything 
else  with  a  fine,  generous  disregard  of  quality  as 
long  as  the  quantity  was  there.     My  friend  Mr. 
Wrench,  who   was    then   the    British    consul    in 
Constantinople,  and  who  has  lately  died,  promised 
to  send  me  up  a  case  of  real  Scotch  whisky,  and 
it  came  up  in  the  previous  train  of  arabas.     At 
least  the  case  came  up  all  right,  but  of  the  dozen 
bottles  only  two  remained  for  the  disappointed 
consignee — myself.     Of  course  we  had  a  general 
jollification,  and  the  last  drop  of  genuine  Glenlivet 
had  vanished  down  the   capacious   gullet   of  an 
Austrian    medico   before    I    remembered   with   a 
pang  of  regret  my  promise  to    Mustapha    Bey. 
Fortunately  he  had  never  tasted  whisky,  so  there 
was  still  a  possibility  of  keeping  faith  with  him, 
at  any  rate  in  appearance.     I  confided  my  pre- 
dicament   to   my    comrades,    and   we   brewed   a 
special  cuvte  rdservde   for  the  Turk.     The  basis, 
I    recollect,    consisted  of  a  decoction    of  prunes 
boiled  with   some   of  the   wine   of  the   country, 
which  was  heavily  loaded  with  kerosene  or  some 


i877.]  MUSTAPHA    BEY    AND    THE    WHISKY.  2  99 

other  mineral  oil,  and  brought  to  the  right  amber 
hue  by  the  addition  of  a  little  harmless  colouring 
matter.  This  salubrious  beverage  I  filtered 
through  a  sponge,  bottled  in  one  of  the  empty 
whisky  bottles,  and  sent  to  Mustapha  Bey  with 
my  compliments.  When  I  next  met  him,  he  was 
smacking  his  lips  with  retrospective  gusto,  de- 
claring that  he  had  never  tasted  anything  so 
delicious  in  his  life.  Poor  old  fellow !  I  felt 
quite  guilty  when  I  went  to  say  good-bye  to  him, 
especially  when  he  added  at  the  last,  "  Be  sure 
when  you  come  back  to  bring  me  up  another 
bottle  of  Scotch  whisky." 

Next  morning  I  went  away  in  one  of  the 
smoothly  running  ambulance  cars  brought  up  by 
Dr.  Stoker.  I  had  a  pair  of  horses,  and  drove 
them  down  to  Telish,  where  we  stayed  the  first 
night.  It  was  a  mercy  that  we  were  able  to  get 
on  in  front  of  the  long  line  of  about  three  hundred 
arabas,  each  drawn  by  two  small  white  oxen  and 
laden  with  wounded.  The  carts  creaked  along  at 
about  two  miles  an  hour,  and  as  we  passed  them 
the  groans  and  cries  which  the  excruciating  agony 
forced  from  the  unfortunate  sufferers  were  most 
painful  to  hear.  Some  of  the  men  had  fractures 
which  remained  unset,  and  the  torture  produced 
by  the  broken  ends  of  bone  jarring  together  as 
the  waggon  jolted  and  bumped  over  the  rough 
road  can  be  left  to  the  imagination.  Most  of  the 
men,  however,  bore  their  dreadful  sufferings  with 


300      THE  HORRORS  OF  THE  HOSPITAL. 

a  grim  silence  that  was  as  painful  as  the  cries. 
Oh  that  ghastly  journey  of  wounded  men  to 
Sofia !  And  here  and  there  a  cart  would  stop 
while  the  driver  lifted  out  a  dead  man  from 
among  his  still  living  fellow  travellers,  and  laid 
him  down  by  the  side  of  the  road,  at  rest  at  last 
from  the  fearful  jolting  of  the  araba.  There  was 
no  time  to  dig  a  grave,  so  the  body  was  left 
there  to  soak  in  the  rain  and  bleach  in  the  sun, 
along  the  white  road  that  wound  from  Plevna 
to  Orkhanieh.  I  have  no  means  of  knowing 
accurately  what  proportion  of  the  wounded  died 
on  the  road,  but  I  should  estimate  it  at  about 
7  per  cent.  Had  they  been  left  behind  at  Plevna, 
probably  at  least  50  per  cent,  would  have  been 
swept  away  by  septic  disease  and  slow  starvation. 

At  Telish,  where  we  spent  the  first  night,  I 
found  Hakki  Pasha  in  command,  and  was  very 
kindly  treated  by  him.  This  was  the  scene  of 
a  severe  fight  about  a  fortnight  after  we  passed 
through. 

After  three  days'  travelling  we  reached  Ork- 
hanieh, our  first  stopping-place  of  any  considerable 
size ;  and  here  a  number  of  the  wounded  who 
could  go  no  farther  were  placed  in  the  hospital. 
At  Orkhanieh  the  hospital  arrangements  were  a 
welcome  change  from  those  at  Plevna.  I  met 
a  man  named  Temple  Bey  there,  an  Englishman, 
who  had  been  in  the  Turkish  service  for  a  great 
number  of  years.  There  were  several  English 


i877.]  GOOD-BYE    TO    PLEVNA.  30 1 

surgeons,  and  suitable  houses  had  been  turned 
into  hospitals.  I  met  a  man  named  Roy,  and 
another  named  Gill,  now  a  well  known  practitioner 
at  Welshpool ;  a  man  named  Pinkerton,  working 
at  the  hospitals  in  Orkhanieh ;  and  there  I  said 
good-bye  to  my  friend  Dr.  Mackellar,  who 
remained  behind  to  perform  some  operations,  and 
stayed  there  for  a  considerable  time.  When  I 
was  leaving  him,  he  kindly  gave  me  a  letter  to 
Baron  Munday,  an  Austrian  doctor,  who  was 
an  enthusiast  in  the  cause  of  philanthropy,  and 
who  afterwards  showed  me  great  kindness  in 
Constantinople. 

At  Sofia  I  met  Lady  Strangford,  who  had  a 
well  equipped  hospital,  worked  by  three  or  four 
English  doctors  and  several  English  nurses. 
There  were  fifty  or  sixty  beds  in  it,  and  the 
contrast  between  this  hospital  and  the  dreadful 
place  that  I  had  left  behind  at  Plevna  was  as 
startling  as  the  difference  between  an  "  Inferno  " 
and  a  "  Paradise."  Lady  Strangford  gave  me 
a  letter  to  the  Baroness  von  Rosen,  who  had 
another  hospital  at  Adrianople,  and  I  spent  a 
couple  of  pleasant  days  with  that  enthusiastic 
lady.  Going  on  to  Ichtiman,  I  met  there  Fano 
Bey,  who  was  the  second  military  officer  in  charge 
of  the  hospitals  at  Widdin  ;  and  as  he  arrived  late 
at  night,  I  was  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  repaying 
some  of  his  past  kindnesses  by  giving  up  my 
room  to  him.  Next  day  we  went  on  to  Tatar 


3O2  THE   HORRORS    OF   THE   HOSPITAL. 

Bazardjik,  which  was  the  terminus  of  the  railway 
from  Constantinople  ;  and  there,  in  the  company 
of  half  a  dozen  jolly  war  correspondents,  I  shook 
off  the  last  traces  of  the  depression  engendered 
by  the  horrors  of  my  hospital  work  in  Plevna. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

FROM    CONSTANTINOPLE    TO    ERZEROUM. 

Life  in  Constantinople— Sir  Collingwood  Dickson— Visit  to  the 
Seraskierat — Roving  Englishmen — A  Typical  Adventurer — 
War  Correspondents — General  Berdan — Colonel  Valentine 
Baker— A  Picnic  on  the  Gulf  of  Ismet— On  Board  H.M.S. 
Achilles — The  Turks  as  Paymasters — A  Heavy  Fee — Round 
the  Cafes  Chantants — An  Invitation  to  Erzeroum — Road  to 
Plevna  closed — I  join  the  Stafford  House  Ambulance — A 
Farewell  Banquet— A  Voyage  in  the  Black  Sea— Trebizond 
— In  the  Cradle  of  Humanity — The  Road  of  Xenophon's 
Ten  Thousand — Lazistan — Dog  and  Wolf — An  Ancient 
Mining  Town— The  Valley  of  Pear  Trees— Baiburt— Cross 
and  Crescent  in  Former  Days — A  Mountain  Road — Genoese 
Ruins— A  Hasty  Descent— On  the  Kopdagh — The  Garden 
of  Eden — First  Glimpse  of  the  Euphrates — Sir  Arnold 
Kemball — Erzeroum  at  Last — English  Doctors — Mr.  Zohrab 
— Mukhtar  Pasha— Organizing  our  Hospitals— Sunlight  and 
Shadow — A  Presage  of  Trouble. 

IN  Constantinople  I  put  up  again  at  Misserie's 
Hotel.  During  the  fifteen  months  that  had 
elapsed  since  I  last  saw  that  comfortable  hostelry 
I  had  lived  a  whole  lifetime,  and  coming  back 
to  it  again,  a  war-worn  veteran  of  twenty-three, 
the  French  cooking  and  the  soft  beds  after  many 
a  dinner  of  raw  maize  cobs  and  many  a  sleep  on 
the  bare  earth  appealed  to  my  feelings  in  the 
most  convincing  manner  possible. 

303 


304   FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO  ERZEROUM. 

At  this  time  the  eyes  of  the  world  were  turned 
towards  Plevna,  and  I  found,  somewhat  to  my 
astonishment,  that  my  name  was  already  fairly 
well  known  in  Stamboul.  Every  one  was  anxious 
to  hear  something  of  the  famous  victories  that 
had  just  been  won  from  an  eye-witness,  and  I 
had  to  fight  my  battles  over  again  in  the  club 
and  the  caf6,  the  bureau  and  the  boudoir,  for 
the  benefit  of  hundreds  of  patriotic  inquirers 
all  eager  for  the  latest  news.  Among  others  I 
met  General  Sir  Collingwood  Dickson,  an  old 
Crimea  man,  who  was  intensely  interested  in  the 
operations  against  the  enemy,  whose  grey  coats  he 
had  seen  in  front  of  him  some  three  and  twenty 
years  before  at  Alma  and  at  Inkermann.  It  was 
wonderful  to  see  the  warrior's  eyes  flashing  with 
the  battle-light  again,  as  I  told  him  the  story  of 
the  Krishin  redoubts — how  Skobeleff  took  them 
and  held  them  for  one  desperate  day  and  night, 
and  how,  after  many  repulses,  the  Ottoman  troops 
at  five  o'clock  on  the  following  afternoon  poured 
over  the  parapets  in  a  mighty,  irresistible  wave 
and  swept  the  Russians  back  to  the  Green  Hills 
once  more. 

Taking  Osman  Pasha's  letter  with  me,  I  paid 
a  visit  to  the  Seraskierat,  and,  having  presented 
my  introduction,  was  welcomed  most  warmly  by 
the  officers  of  the  War  Office,  who  thanked  me 
on  behalf  of  the  Turkish  Government  for  my 
services.  Up  to  this  time  the  Ottoman  troops  had 


1877.]  IN    CONSTANTINOPLE    AGAIN.  305 

been  making  a  very  good  fight  of  it  on  the  whole, 
in  spite  of  the  losses  at  the  Shipka  Pass  and  on 
the  Lorn  ;  and  the  brilliant  victories  which  Osman 
Pasha  had  been  winning  encouraged  the  officers 
of  the  Seraskierat  to  hope  for  further  successes. 
It  is  perhaps  outside  my  purpose  here  to  criticise 
in  detail  the  conduct  of  the  operations  by  the 
Turkish  Government ;  but  I  cannot  help  referring 
to  the  opinion  which  was  very  generally  expressed 
outside  that  the  mismanagement  and  divided 
control  at  headquarters  were  entirely  responsible 
for  the  headway  which  the  enemy  had  made  up 
to  the  present,  and  that  if  the  brilliant  qualities 
of  the  Turkish  forces  in  the  field  had  been 
supported  by  a  more  rational  and  consistent 
policy  at  Constantinople  the  peaked  caps  of  the 
Russians  would  never  have  been  seen  before 
Stamboul. 

My  mother,  whom  I  was  very  anxious  to  see, 
was  in  England  at  this  time,  and  I  had  written 
to  her  upon  my  arrival  in  Constantinople.  While 
I  waited  to  get  a  reply  from  her,  I  had  plenty 
of  time  to  look  about  me  and  see  the  change 
which  had  taken  place  in  the  daily  life  of  the 
Turkish  capital  since  my  previous  visit.  Upon 
the  outbreak  of  a  war  the  adventurers  of  all 
nations  seem  to  emerge  from  their  hiding-places, 
and  flock  to  the  scene  of  action  for  the  profit,  the 
pleasure,  or  the  excitement  that  they  can  pick 
up.  The  carcase,  in  fact,  was  there,  and  one 

20 


3O6        FROM    CONSTANTINOPLE    TO    ERZEROUM. 

could  see  the  eagles  gathering  together  from 
every  quarter.  I  met  a  good  many  Englishmen 
of  the  roving,  dare-devil  class  that  has  done  so 
much  to  build  up  our  own  empire,  and  here  in 
default  of  an  outlet  among  Christian  nations  they 
were  trying  all  they  knew  to  get  into  the  Turkish 
army.  Many  of  them  had  a  special  axe  to  grind 
of  some  sort.  They  had  inventions,  new  weapons, 
or  improved  clothing,  or  equipment  which  they 
desired  to  sell  to  the  Turkish  Government.  For 
instance,  there  was  a  man  called  Harris,  who  had 
a  scheme  for  blowing  up  the  bridge  across  the 
Danube  at  Sistova  with  torpedoes,  and  was  very 
anxious  that  I  should  join  him  in  his  absurd 
scheme.  His  idea  was  to  send  down  the  river 
a  small  fleet  of  torpedoes  which  would  destroy 
the  bridge  as  soon  as  they  came  into  contact  with 
it.  How  the  destruction  of  the  bridge  could 
hinder  the  advance  of  the  Russians  or  alter  the 
course  of  the  campaign  he  loftily  declined  to 
explain,  and  my  stupidity  was  such  that  I  missed 
this  unique  opportunity  of  securing  fame  and 
fortune  at  a  blow.  Another  man  whom  I  met 
belonged  to  a  species  which  is  fairly  well  dis- 
tributed— more's  the  pity — over  the  outlying 
portions  especially  of  the  British  Empire.  He 
was  gentlemanly,  well  dressed,  and  by  no  means 
presuming.  He  talked  well,  and  evidently  knew 
the  world.  One  would  take  him  to  be  about 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  though  the  lines  in  his 


1877.]  ROVING    ENGLISHMEN.  307 

forehead  and  round  the  mouth  and  the  streaks 
of  grey  in  his  hair  showed  that  he  had  lived  all 
the  time.  He  took  a  tremendous  interest  in  the 
fighting  round  Plevna,  and  he  invited  me  to 
dinner  with  him  one  evening.  Let  us  call  him 
Smith,  although  that  was  not  his  name.  Well,  I 
had  a  very  excellent  dinner ;  and  when  it  was 
over  I  had  to  pay  for  it  myself,  as  also  for  Mr. 
Smith's  own  well  selected  repast  and  bottle  of 
Chateau  Leoville.  Over  the  cigars  afterwards 
he  casually  asked  me  to  lend  him  five  pounds  ; 
but  I  found,  to  my  regret,  that  I  had  not  got  the 
money  on  me. 

If  there  were  plenty  of  adventurers  in  Constan- 
tinople just  then,  there  were  also  plenty  of  sterling, 
good  fellows  always  ready  to  do  one  a  good  turn 
without  any  ulterior  object.  I  made  a  delightful 
acquaintance,  for  instance,  when  I  met  Charles 
Austin,  a  Fellow  of  St.  John's,  Oxford,  who  had 
gone  out  to  Constantinople  to  act  as  special  corre- 
spondent for  the  Times.  Another  capital  fellow 
was  Frank  Ives  Scudamore,  whom  every  one  in 
Constantinople  knew.  He  was  the  head  of  the 
British  post-office  there ;  and  when  I  told  him 
that  I  had  spent  twenty  pounds  of  my  own  money 
in  telegraphing  to  the  Standard  from  Widdin 
when  their  own  correspondent  went  away,  Scuda- 
more paid  me  the  money  out  of  his  own  pocket, 
telling  me  that  he  would  get  it  from  the  paper. 
His  son  was  acting  as  the  correspondent  for 


308    FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO  ERZEROUM. 

some  London  paper  too,  and  I  saw  a  good  deal 
of  him.  The  names  of  the  Englishmen  whom  I 
met  in  the  town  at  that  exciting  time  would  fill 
many  pages  ;  but  I  can  mention  a  few  of  them. 
There  was  Colonel  Valentine  Baker,  for  instance 
(Baker  Pasha),  who  was  accounted  one  of  the 
finest  cavalry  officers  in  Europe,  and  was  engaged 
in  reorganizing  the  gendarmerie.  He  had  picked 
out  a  lot  of  retired  English  officers  for  positions, 
and  among  them  I  met  Colonel  Swire,  Colonel 
Norton,  Colonel  Alix,  and  a  fire-eating,  devil- 
may-care  Irishman  named  Briscoe,  who  had  been 
in  the  Guards,  and  who  was  the  life  and  soul  of 
the  club.  An  exceptionally  interesting  old  chap 
was  General  Berdan,  the  inventor  of  the  Russian 
rifle  that  bore  his  name.  I  looked  at  the  harm- 
less, gentle  old  chap  with  considerable  awe  when 
I  recollected  the  awful  scenes  in  my  hospital  and 
the  deadly  evidences  of  the  hard-hitting  Berdan 
bullets.  There  were  several  fellows  who  had 
failed  in  examinations  at  Sandhurst  or  Woolwich, 
and  were  now  hunting  for  glory  where  they  fancied 
that  a  good  seat  on  horseback  would  be  more 
serviceable  than  trigonometry  and  a  fair  shot 
with  the  revolver  would  be  more  valuable  than 
the  most  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  differen- 
tial calculus.  A  Sir  Peter  Something-or-other, 
who  was  trying  to  sell  uniforms  to  the  Turkish 
Government,  completes  the  list  of  my  personal 
club  acquaintances. 


1877- ]  ON    BOARD    H.M.S.    "  ACHILLES.  309 

During  the  few  days  that  I  was  at  Constan- 
tinople, Valentine  Baker  organized  a  delightful 
picnic  to  the  Gulf  of  Ismet,  where  the  British  fleet 
were  lying,  and  he  invited  me  to  join  the  party. 
We  went  up  the  Gulf  of  Ismet  in  a  small  steamer, 
and  at  Prinkapo  we  took  on  board  an  addition 
to  our  party  including  several  ladies. 

After  a  few  hours'  steaming,  we  came  in  sight 
of  the  ships  of  the  British  squadron  riding  at 
anchor  on  the  blue  waters  of  the  gulf ;  and  fighting 
though  I  had  been  under  the  Turkish  flag,  I  felt 
a  thrill  of  pride  as  our  little  launch  passed  under 
the  stern  of  the  mighty  Tfrneraire  and  I  saw 
the  dear  old  ensign  flying  over  me  again.  Those 
were  stirring  times  in  international  politics,  for 
word  had  been  passed  round  in  high  diplomatic 
circles  as  well  as  on  the  stages  of  the  London 
music-halls  that  "  the  Russians  shall  not  have 
Constantinople,"  and  the  presence  of  the  Achilles, 
the  Alexandra,  the  Te'me'raire,  and  the  other 
ships  of  Admiral  Hornby's  squadron  almost  within 
shell  fire  of  Stamboul  showed  that  Great  Britain 
had  made  up  her  mind  definitely  upon  this  point. 

We  lunched  with  Commodore  Hewitt  on 
board  the  Achilles,  and  after  lunch  we  had  plenty 
of  time  to  examine  the  equipment  of  that  splendid 
fighting  machine.  As  I  watched  the  ladies  in 
their  white  dresses  tripping  along  the  snowy 
decks  and  peering  down  the  sights  of  the  great, 
silent,  burnished  guns  that  pointed  out  towards 


3IO    FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO  ERZEROUM. 

Stamboul,  I  thought  of  those  other  guns  that  I 
had  left  behind  at  Plevna,  grim,  powder-blackened, 
blood-bespattered  veterans,  that  continued  their 
deadly  work  until,  broken  and  dismounted,  with 
their  gun  crews  lying  round  them,  they  were 
silenced  at  last  in  the  Krishin  redoubts. 

We  had  a  delightful  day  with  the  squadron, 
and  in  the  evening  we  steamed  back  to  the  city 
of  many  minarets,  upon  which  the  eyes  of  Europe 
were  day  by  day  directed.  At  Prinkapo  I  met 
a  man  called  Pearse,  a  brother  Australian.  He 
was  the  first  graduate  in  law  from  the  Adelaide 
University.  He  had  a  big  practice  at  the  bar 
in  the  English  court  at  Constantinople,  and  we 
had  much  to  tell  each  other  of  our  adventures 
since  we  crossed  the  line. 

My  friend  Mr.  Wrench,  the  British  consul  at 
Constantinople,  was  extremely  kind  to  me,  and  I 
ventured  to  approach  him  upon  a  somewhat 
delicate  question.  Much  as  I  admired  the 
character  of  the  Turkish  troops  and  their  soldierly 
qualities  in  the  field,  I  could  not  be  blind  to  one 
conspicuous  defect  in  Turkish  official  nature.  It 
was  plain  from  the  first  that  the  executive  had 
a  rooted  dislike  to  paying  over  a  single  piastre 
to  any  one  for  services  rendered.  The  pay  of 
the  troops  was  months  in  arrear,  and  my  own 
little  bill  was  mounting  up  to  a  quite  portentous 
figure.  Perhaps  it  occurred  to  the  paymaster  of 
the  forces  that  it  would  be  folly  to  hand  over 


i877.]  THE   TURKS    AS    PAYMASTERS.  311 

good  money  to  a  man  who  might  have  his  pockets 
carried  away  together  with  his  legs  by  a  con- 
venient shell  at  any  moment.  At  any  rate  the 
fact  remained  that  I  was  owed  about  ^70  by  the 
Turkish  Government  at  this  time ;  and  as  I 
had  no  hopes  of  recovering  my  medical  fees  by 
my  own  unaided  efforts,  I  laid  the  matter  before 
Mr.  Wrench. 

Mr.  Wrench  had  lived  long  in  Constantinople, 
and  was  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the  devious 
approaches  to  the  ear  of  officialdom.  I  do  not 
know  how  many  cups  of  coffee  he  was  obliged  to 
drink,  nor  how  many  artfully  worded  compliments 
he  paid  to  solemn  old  pashas  sitting  cross-legged 
on  their  divans ;  but  I  do  know  that  in  a  re- 
markably short  time,  considering  the  length  and 
tortuosity  of  the  negotiations  which  he  must  have 
gone  through,  he  was  able  to  announce  to  me 
that  the  arrears  of  my  salary  of  ^200  a  year 
would  be  paid  on  application.  When  I  put  in  my 
claim  for  ^70,  they  brought  me  the  whole  amount 
in  silver  coin,  and  I  had  to  get  a  small  hand- 
cart to  remove  my  money,  which  consisted  of 
about  half  a  hundredweight  of  Turkish  medjidies. 
It  was  certainly  the  heaviest  fee  that  I  have 
ever  received  for  professional  services. 

In  order  to  be  more  in  the  swim,  so  that  I 
could  hear  prompt  news  of  all  that  was  going  on 
at  the  seat  of  war,  I  left  Misserie's  Hotel,  and  took 
up  my  quarters  at  the  club  in  the  Grande  Rue 


312    FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO  ERZEROUM. 

de  Pera.  This  was  a  very  comfortable  and  very 
cosmopolitan  caravanserai,  and  the  members  in- 
cluded the  leading  section  of  the  foreign  element 
in  Constantinople.  Here  I  met  again  many  of 
my  old  acquaintances,  among  them  being  the 
Hon.  Randolph  Stewart,  the  Queen's  Messenger, 
who  had  come  down  the  Danube  with  me  when 
I  first  entered  Turkish  territory.  I  found  plenty 
of  congenial  spirits  in  the  club,  and  devoted  a 
day  or  two  to  well  deserved  relaxation,  which 
was  readily  obtainable  in  Constantinople.  In 
the  evenings  we  used  to  go  the  round  of  the 
cafes  chantants,  and  always  found  lots  of  fun 
there.  One  night  a  French  girl  came  forward 
on  the  stage,  and  sang  a  song  about  Plevna, 
which  was  rapturously  applauded.  While  the 
song  was  going  on  somebody  spotted  me  in  the 
audience,  and  I  was  accorded  a  demonstration 
which,  although  it  was  highly  flattering,  was 
nevertheless  decidedly  embarrassing. 

While  I  was  amusing  myself  with  these  frivoli- 
ties, the  most  momentous  events  were  occurring 
at  the  theatre  of  war.  In  Asiatic  Turkey  the 
Russians  were  making  rapid  headway,  and  I 
learned  from  Mr.  Barrington  Kennett,  the  head 
of  the  Stafford  House  Relief  Committee,  who  was 
then  in  Constantinople,  that  the  condition  of  the 
Turkish  garrison  of  Erzeroum  was  deplorable. 
Medical  aid  was  urgently  required  there,  and 
Mr.  Barrington  Kennett  offered  me  an  engage- 


i877.]  THE    ROAD    TO    PLEVNA    CLOSED.  313 

ment  at  once  to  take  charge  of  the  ambulance 
work  at  Erzeroum  for  the  Stafford  House  Com- 
mittee. I  was  offered  far  better  terms  than  I 
was  getting  from  the  Turks,  and  a  free  hand 
to  do  what  I  liked  at  Erzeroum ;  but  I  deter- 
mined not  to  desert  my  old  friends  at  Plevna, 
and  made  up  my  mind  to  get  back  there  as 
soon  as  I  had  seen  my  mother.  Mr.  Barrington 
Kennett  asked  me  to  reserve  my  final  decision, 
and  when  I  left  him  the  offer  was  still  open. 

On  the  very  same  day  something  occurred 
which  compelled  me  to  change  my  plans.  Sir 
Collingwood  Dickson  sent  me  a  telegram  asking 
me  to  call  upon  him  at  once  in  the  summer 
residence  of  the  British  Embassy  at  Therapia, 
and  in  an  interview  which  I  had  with  him  there 
he  told  me  that  news  had  just  been  received 
of  terrible  fighting  at  Gorny  Dlibnik  and  Telish. 
The  Russian  Guards  had  been  brought  up,  and 
after  a  desperate  battle  at  Telish  in  which  the 
Russians  lost  four  thousand  men  the  Turkish 
forces  sustained  a  complete  defeat.  As  a  result 
of  this  victory  the  Russians  were  in  possession  of 
all  the  approaches  to  Plevna,  and  communication 
with  Osman  Pasha's  army  was  absolutely  cut  off. 
I  listened  to  this  news  with  dismay,  for  it  was 
clear  now  that  I  could  not  get  back  to  Plevna ; 
and  that  night  as  I  lay  in  bed  at  the  club  I  made 
up  my  mind  to  accept  the  offer  of  the  Stafford 
House  Committee  and  go  to  Erzeroum. 


314         FROM    CONSTANTINOPLE    TO    ERZEROUM. 

Before  I  was  up  in  the  morning  Mr.  Barring- 
ton  Kennett  came  into  my  room  and  told  me  that 
he  had  received  a  telegram  from  Erzeroum  giving 
the  news  of  a  sanguinary  battle  close  to  that  place. 
Mukhtar  Pasha  had  suffered  a  terrible  defeat,  and 
the  condition  in  Erzeroum  was  desperate.  The 
town  was  full  of  wounded  men,  and  supplies  of 
all  kinds  were  urgently  needed.  Mr.  Kennett 
asked  me  to  start  that  day  at  twelve  o'clock  as 
there  was  a  steamer  going,  and  he  offered  to  give 
me  any  one  I  liked  to  go  with  me,  suggesting 
that  I  should  take  a  dragoman  and  Captain 
Morisot,  whom  I  had  already  met  at  Plevna, 
as  a  companion.  Mr.  Stoney,  who  also  belonged 
to  the  Stafford  House  Committee,  and  who  had 
treated  me  with  the  greatest  kindness,  also  urged 
me  to  accept  the  offer ;  and  the  upshot  of  it  all 
was  that  I  told  Mr.  Kennett  that  I  would  be 
ready  to  start  by  the  steamer  at  twelve  o'clock. 

Steamers,  however,  suffer  from  unpunctuality 
in  Turkey  as  well  as  elsewhere,  and  at  the  last 
moment  we  found  that  the  boat  would  not  start 
until  next  morning.  Baron  Munday  heard  of 
this,  and  gave  a  grand  farewell  dinner  to  me  at 
the  club  that  night,  when  about  a  dozen  of  us  sat 
down  to  a  regular  banquet,  and  drank  each  other's 
healths  in  bumpers  of  champagne.  In  those  old 
fighting  days  a  farewell  dinner  to  any  one  was  a 
thing  to  wonder  at ;  for  it  was  always  a  shade  of 
odds  that  a  fever  or  a  rifle-bullet  would  claim  a 


i»77.]  EN    ROUTE    TO    ERZEROUM.  315 

good  many  of  the  guests  before  they  could  meet 
again,  and  the  more  risky  the  prospects  of  the 
future  the  more  lively  was  the  certain  pleasure 
of  the  present.  Late  that  night,  or  rather  early 
next  morning,  they  saw  me  down  to  the  quay 
where  the  Messageries  boat  was  lying,  and  I  went 
on  board,  lugging  with  me  a  bag  containing  three 
hundred  English  sovereigns — perhaps  the  only 
coins  on  earth  that  will  fetch  their  face  value 
anywhere.  With  me  there  went  Dr.  Woods,  an 
adventurous  spark  from  the  north  of  Ireland, 
who  was  deputed  to  act  with  me,  Captain  Morisot, 
and  Mr.  Harvey. 

A  fine  old  Frenchman  commanded  the  little 
Messageries  steamer,  and  by  his  manner  and 
language  he  seemed  a  regular  old  aristocrat,  who 
had  not  always  been  running  a  small  "  tramp  " 
boat  on  the  Black  Sea.  Although  far  from  Paris, 
he  had  not  forgotten  the  principles  of  gastronomy, 
and  the  cuisine  on  board  that  perambulating  little 
tub  was  simply  perfect.  I  had  never  lived  so 
well  in  my  life.  We  had  a  delightful  passage  up 
the  Black  Sea,  calling  in  at  the  different  ports 
on  the  north  side,  Sinope,  Samsoun,  and  finally 
Trebizond,  where  we  disembarked  for  the  over- 
land journey  to  Erzeroum. 

Trebizond  is  a  beautiful  town  built  on  a  table- 
land at  the  top  of  high  cliffs  looking  down  over 
the  Black  Sea.  There  was  a  very  good  Greek 
hotel  there,  and  we  put  up  for  the  night  in  it. 


316    FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO  ERZEROUM. 

As  soon  as  possible  we  called  on  Mr.  Biliotti,* 
the  English  consul  at  Trebizond,  and  he  gave 
us  a  message  to  push  on  to  Erzeroum  as  quickly 
as  possible,  as  Mukhtar  Pasha  was  in  urgent 
need  of  medical  officers  and  stores. 

With  Mr.  Biliotti  we  met  Captain  McCalmont, 
who  was  on  the  staff  of  Sir  Arnold  Kemball,  the 
British  military  attache*  in  Asiatic  Turkey.  All 
the  preliminaries  for  our  journey  had  been  settled 
by  the  indefatigable  Mr.  Biliotti ;  and  as  we  had 
two  dragomen,  I  left  one  of  them,  a  man  named 
Williams,  behind  us  to  bring  on  the  heavy 
packages,  the  bandages,  drugs,  stimulants,  and 
other  medical  stores,  while  we  pushed  forward 
with  the  other. 

When  we  left  Trebizond,  our  party  consisted 
of  Dr.  Woods,  Captain  Morisot,  Harvey,  and 
myself.  We  started  early  in  the  morning  for  our 
long  ride  to  Erzeroum  through  the  wild  and 
picturesque  country  which  ethnologists  and  philo- 
logists have  alike  decided  upon  as  the  cradle  of 
the  human  race,  and  where  biblical  legend,  agree- 
ing with  the  conclusions  of  science,  has  placed  the 
primitive  Garden  of  Eden.  The  road  that  we 
travelled  was  a  splendid  one,  macadamized  nearly 
all  the  way,  and  built  in  that  solid  and  enduring 
form  that  men  gave  to  their  highways  before  the 

*  Now  Sir  Alfred  Biliotti,  H.B.M.  consul  in  Crete,  who  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  exertions  on  behalf  of  the  inhabitants 
during  the  disturbances  in  1897. 


1877-]  IN    THE    CRADLE    OF    HUMANITY.  317 

railways  came  to  compete  with  them.  It  was 
this  road  that  Xenophon  travelled  with  his  legions 
over  two  thousand  years  ago  when  they  made 
their  famous  return  march  to  Greece.  Readers 
of  that  dead-and-gone  Greek  captain's  diary  will 
remember  his  explicit  description  of  the  journey, 
and  his  continually  recurring  remark  that  they 
came  after  a  stage  of  so  many  "parasangs"  to 
"  a  populous  town,  well  watered,  and  situated  on 
a  river."  Since  Xenophon's  day  most  of  those 
populous  towns  have  disappeared,  and  nothing  is 
left  but  the  beetling  cliffs  that  frowned  down 
upon  the  homeward  marching  Greeks,  and  the 
sea  that  ripples  as  fresh  and  blue  to-day  as  when 
the  hoplites  and  the  bowmen  saw  it  gleaming  at 
last  before  them  and  ran  forward  with  the  glad, 
exulting  cry,  "  Thalassa,  Thalassa!" 

The  road  is  still  divided  into  posts  or  stages, 
and  we  travelled  from  stage  to  stage  with  fresh 
post-horses.  It  was  tiring  work  riding  these 
rough  and  badly  broken  brutes,  and  Dr.  Woods, 
who  was  an  indifferent  horseman,  suffered  very 
severely  ;  but  the  excitement  of  the  journey  and 
the  wildness  of  the  scenery  kept  us  up. 

Our  first  day's  journey  was  very  picturesque, 
for  the  road  wound  along  the  side  of  a  deep 
ravine  for  many  miles,  and  then  curled  along  the 
flanks  of  the  hills  that  rose  above  us  beautifully 
clad  with  hazel  trees.  We  passed  through  a  part 
of  the  district  of  Lazistan,  and  were  much  struck 


318    FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO  ERZEROUM. 

by  the  magnificent  type  of  men  that  we  saw 
there,  tall,  straight,  muscular  fellows,  lithe  and 
hardy  as  the  mountain  ash.  Perhaps  it  is  true 
that  this  country  is  the  real  cradle  of  the  human 
race,  and  that  from  there  the  tide  of  migration 
flowed  westward  over  Europe,  sending  one  tribu- 
tary stream  down  into  Greece,  and  another  down 
into  Italy,  and  passing  onwards  in  ever  increasing 
volume,  until  it  spread  population,  not  only  through 
Western  Europe,  but  away,  as  industrious  archaeo- 
logists have  whispered,  conning  their  strange 
finds  among  the  Incas  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  to 
the  great  Western  continent  that  lay  beyond  the 
fabled  inland  of  Atlantis.  At  any  rate  those  who 
hold  to  this  theory  might  find  support  for  it  in 
the  magnificent  physique  of  the  present  popula- 
tion of  this  primeval  country.  At  times,  when  a 
sick  man  is  sent  back  to  breathe  the  air  of  his 
native  place  after  a  lifetime  spent  in  some  distant 
city,  he  gathers  new  health  and  strength  in  some 
mysterious  way.  So  tired  humanity,  sick  and 
undersized  in  Western  Europe,  regains  its  pristine 
vigour  and  development  among  the  mountains 
and  ravines  where  it  first  saw  the  light. 

Not  only  were  these  men  of  Lazistan  very  fine 
fellows  themselves,  but  we  saw  that  they  possessed 
some  magnificent  dogs,  powerfully  built,  shaggy 
coated  animals,  with  enormous  muscular  strength. 
These  dogs  were  greatly  prized  by  their  owners  ; 
and  though  I  tried  hard  to  secure  one  by 


i877.]  LAZISTAN.  319 

purchase,  I  failed.  They  are  used  to  guard  the 
flocks  of  their  masters,  and  many  a  fierce  duel  has 
been  fought  at  night  between  a  grey  old  wolf, 
impelled  by  hunger  to  attack  the  sheep,  and  the 
grim  custodian  of  the  flock.  In  the  winter  all  the 
mountains  in  Lazistan  are  covered  with  snow  for 
months,  and  the  white  covering  of  those  lonely 
grassy  slopes  is  often  stained  by  the  traces  of 
these  battles  a  outrance. 

After  completing  our  first   day's  journey,   we 
came  in  the  evening  to  a  small  village,  where  we 
put  up  at  a  filthy  little  khan,  and  made  ourselves 
as   comfortable   as  we  could.     We  had  brought 
plenty  of  food  with  us,  and  our  principal  discom- 
fort was  as  usual  occasioned  by  the  fleas,  which 
were   as   pertinacious  as  those  which  Thackeray 
has   depicted  as   pulling  the   Kickleburys  out  of 
bed  during  their  famous  excursion  up  the  Rhine. 
On  the  second  day  we  were  able  to  push  on 
a  good  deal  faster  as  the  road  was   more  level, 
and  in  the  evening  we  came  to  the  small  town- 
ship of  Ghumish  Khane,  which  was  chiefly  known 
to   fame   owing   to   the   existence  of  some  very 
old  silver  mines  in  the  neighbourhood.      To  an 
Australian  like  myself  it  did  not  look  at  all  like 
a   mining   township.      Where   were   the  familiar 
poppet   heads,    the   heaps    of   mullock,    and   the 
diligently  fossicked  alluvial  ?     There  was  no  roar 
of  stampers,  no   monotonous   gurgle   of  pumps, 
and  there  was  not  one  decent  bush  shanty  in  the 


32O        FROM    CONSTANTINOPLE    TO    ERZEROUM. 

place.  We  had  seen  enough  of  the  comforts  of 
a  khan  on  the  previous  night,  so  like  wise  men 
we  went  straight  to  the  kantmam,  or  Turkish 
bath,  with  which  even  the  smallest  Turkish  town- 
ship is  always  provided.  Here  we  enjoyed  the 
refreshing  luxury  of  being  well  steamed ;  and 
backsheesh,  in  the  shape  of  a  few  piastres  to  the 
man  in  charge,  procured  for  us  permission  to 
sleep  on  the  divans  provided  for  patrons  of  the 
establishment.  We  had  supper  and  spent  the 
night  in  the  hammam. 

Leaving  Ghumish  Khan6  next  morning,  we 
rode  on  through  a  narrow  valley  between  two 
ranges  of  hills  covered  with  hazel  trees  and  other 
light  scrub.  In  this  valley,  which  was  about 
seven  miles  long  by  half  a  mile  wide,  we  found 
magnificent  groves  of  pear  trees  fringing  the  road 
on  either  side.  When  we  passed  through  in  the 
middle  of  autumn,  the  fruit  was  just  ripe,  and 
the  great  juicy  pears  almost  knocked  against  our 
faces  as  we  rode  on  under  the  trees  with  the 
branches  interlacing  overhead.  We  telegraphed 
to  the  kaimakan  at  Baiburt,  our  next  stopping- 
place,  before  leaving  Ghumish  Khane*,  in  order 
that  accommodation  might  be  prepared  for  us ; 
and  when  we  reached  Baiburt  in  the  evening, 
we  were  agreeably  surprised  to  find  it  an 
extremely  beautiful  town.  Baiburt,  like  all  the 
towns  in  that  country,  is  a  place  of  grey  antiquity. 
It  sleeps  on  in  the  present,  dreaming  of  the 


i877- J  BAIBURT.  321 

past  and  of  all  the  wars  that  have  raged 
about  it  since  the  first  men  of  Baiburt  built 
themselves  defences  against  the  robbers  of  the 
hills  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  years  ago. 
It  was  taken  by  the  Russians  in  1828,  after 
the  massacres  in  the  ^Egean  Sea  had  roused 
England,  France,  and  Russia  to  take  joint  action 
against  the  Turks,  and  had  whetted  the  thirst 
for  blood  once  more  by  precipitating  Navarino. 
Looking  at  the  majestic  ruins  of  this  town  of 
Baiburt  and  at  the  traces  of  their  presence,  left 
there  by  the  Russian  cannoneers,  one  thought  of 
the  causes  that  had  brought  about  these  ruins  ; 
one  thought  of  the  Greek  struggle  for  indepen- 
dence, and  of  the  massacres  at  Chios  and  the 
adjacent  islands  ;  one  thought  of  Byron  singing 
of  "  The  Isles  of  Greece,"  with  his  passionate 
appeal  against  "  Turkish  force  and  Latin  fraud," 
and  of  BeVanger  stirring  all  Europe  with  the 
lament  of  the  heroic  Ipsariotes,  "  Les  rois 
chr^tiens  ne  nous  vengeront  pas." 

After  leaving  Baiburt  we  got  among  the 
mountains  again,  and  rode  along  a  track  hewn 
out  of  the  side  of  the  hills  that  almost  overhung 
us,  a  road  that  reminded  one  in  places  of  the 
magnificent  solitudes  of  the  Julier  Pass  in 
Switzerland,  and  at  times  brought  back  the 
softer  beauties  of  the  track  from  Hobart  to  the 
Huon  River  in  Tasmania. 

On  either  side  of  the  road  grew  groves  of  giant 

21 


322         FROM    CONSTANTINOPLE   TO    ERZEROUM. 

rhododendrons,  making  splashes  of  rich  colour 
amid  the  green ;  and  here  and  there  the  ruined 
castles,  built  by  Genoese  merchant  princes  to 
protect  their  commerce  from  the  robbers  of  the 
hills,  loomed  in  lonely  state  above  us.  Along 
this  road  in  the  Middle  Ages  came  the  greater 
part  of  the  trade  from  Persia ;  and  as  the  long 
caravan,  laden  with  silks  and  spices,  with  fabrics 
from  the  Persian  looms  and  precious  stones  from 
the  Persian  mines,  made  its  way  slowly  towards 
the  markets  of  Europe,  it  was  no  wonder  that  the 
brigands  descended  from  their  native  fastnesses 
and  risked  a  fight  with  the  well  armed  escort 
that  rode  beside  the  treasures. 

Inspired  by  a  desire  to  get  a  nearer  look  at 
these  romantic  old  ruins,  I  climbed  up  to  the 
ridge  upon  which  one  of  these  castles  was  poised 
like  an  eagle's  nest  between  earth  and  heaven  ; 
but  I  regretted  my  curiosity  very  quickly,  for  it 
was  only  with  the  utmost  difficulty  and  most 
frantic  clutching  at  convenient  shrubs  that  I 
reached  the  road  again  with  a  wild  glissade  in 
which  everything  was  forgotten  except  the  instinc- 
tive desire  to  keep  myself  right  side  uppermost. 

Towards  evening  we  passed  through  a  gloomy 
gorge  where  the  cliffs  rose  perpendicularly  on 
each  side ;  and  the  air,  never  warmed  by  the 
sun's  rays,  was  bitterly  cold.  Soon  after  emerging 
from  this  we  came  to  a  village  whose  name  I 
have  forgotten,  and  rode  at  once  to  the  konak, 


i877-]  ON    THE    KOPDAGH.  323 

or  townhall,  where  we  had  a  rest  and  a  meal. 
Here  I  learnt  that  Sir  Arnold  Kemball  was  at 
Purnekapan,  at  the  end  of  the  next  stage,  and 
that  he  had  with  him  Lieutenant  Dugald  of  the 
royal  navy  as  an  attache. 

Having  sent  a  telegram  to  Lieutenant  Dugald 
notifying  our  approach,  we  resumed  our  journey, 
travelling  over  a  pass  which  rose  to  a  height  of 
between  six  and  seven  thousand  feet ;  and  at  the 
summit  we  halted  for  an  hour  at  a  place  called 
the  Kopdagh,  from  which  there  was  a  superb 
view  over  hills  and  valleys  and  distant  mountain- 
peaks.  Far  away  in  front  of  us  was  the  silver 
line  of  a  river,  the  very  name  of  which  sent  a 
thrill  through  our  hearts.  It  was  "that  great 
river,  the  river  Euphrates " ;  and  as  we  looked 
down  over  the  plain  we  realized,  almost  with  a 
gasp  of  astonishment,  that  we  were  gazing  at  the 
legendary  site  of  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

At  Purnekapan  I  called  on  Sir  Arnold  Kemball, 
whom  I  had  met  previously  at  Nish  during  the 
Servian  war.  Sir  Arnold  Kemball  had  stirring 
news  for  us.  He  had  just  received  a  telegram 
from  Erzeroum  announcing  that  the  Russians 
had  delivered  a  terrific  assault,  and  that  the  town 
had  fallen  into  their  hands. 

Next  morning  we  pushed  on  as  fast  as  we 
could,  crossed  the  Euphrates  at  midday,  and  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  Erzeroum. 
As  we  entered  the  town  we  naturally  expected 


, 


324    FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO  ERZEROUM. 

to  find  the  Russians  in  possession  of  the  town  ; 
but  we  could  see  no  trace  of  the  well  known 
uniforms,  and  gradually  it  dawned  upon  us  that 
Sir  Arnold  Kemball  had  been  misinformed  when 
he  told  us  that  the  long  expected  Russian  assault 
had  already  been  delivered. 

We  went  straight  to  the  British  Consulate,  and 
called  upon  Mr.  Zohrab,  our  consul,  who  gave 
us  a  most  cordial  reception,  and  informed  us  of 
the  position  in  the  town,  which  was  certainly 
serious.  About  a  week  before  our  arrival  a 
desperate  attack  had  been  made  by  the  Russians, 
who  had  taken  one  of  the  forts,  and  the  Turks 
lost  two  thousand  men  in  killed  and  wounded. 
Consequently  the  hospital  resources  were  taxed 
to  the  utmost,  although  in  addition  to  the 
Turkish  medical  staff  there  were  several  English 
doctors  in  Erzeroum  before  we  got  there.  Lord 
Blantyre  had  sent  up  a  number  of  English  doctors 
at  his  own  expense  ;  but  the  total  strength  of 
the  medical  staff  had  been  depleted  by  various 
accidents.  Dr.  Casson  and  Dr.  Buckle,  for  in- 
stance, had  been  taken  prisoners,  and  were  then 
in  the  hands  of  the  Russians ;  Dr.  Guppy  had 
died  of  typhoid  fever  about  a  week  before  we 
got  there  ;  and  the  available  surgeons  were  Charles 
Fetherstonhaugh,  James  Denniston,  whom  I  had 
known  before  in  Edinburgh,  and  John  Pinkerton. 
We  took  up  our  quarters  with  these  three,  in  the 
great  bare  house  where  they  lived  without  any 


i877.]  ERZEROUM    AT    LAST.  325 

furniture  except  a  table  and  a  couple  of  benches. 
There  were  no  beds,  so  we  slept  on  the  floor  : 
and  our  by  no  means  luxurious  meals  were 
cooked  for  us  by  an  Armenian  named  David 
whose  son  Sirope,  commonly  called  Jonathan, 
acted  as  waiter  and  general  factotum. 

As  soon  as  we  were  installed  we  had  time  to 
look  round,  and  my  first  impression  of  Erzeroum 
was  a  very  favourable  one.  I  found  that  we  had 
come  to  a  very  picturesque  town,  lying  under  the 
lee  of  a  range  of  mountains  which  rose  to  a 
height  of  six  thousand  feet,  the  town  itself  being 
about  four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  level.  A 
remarkable  feature  about  the  place  was  the  entire 
absence  of  timber,  which  I  noticed  at  once  with 
the  apprehension  of  an  old  campaigner  who  knew 
the  value  of  a  supply  of  fuel  and  the  horrible 
discomfort  of  being  without  it.  I  found  that  the 
nearest  timber  was  seventy  miles  away,  where 
the  great  forest  of  Soghanli  Dagh  was  situated. 
There  were  very  few  trees  in  the  town,  and  the 
mountains  were  great  masses  of  bare  rock,  without 
a  trace  of  vegetation  to  hide  their  cold  nakedness. 
Under  these  circumstances  the  inhabitants  relied 
for  fuel  principally  on  dried  camel's  dung,  which 
was  a  most  precarious  source  of  supply. 

Erzeroum  was  surrounded  by  a  great  wall, 
strengthened  by  forts  at  intervals,  and  also  by  a 
moat  and  drawbridge.  It  was  a  very  important 
town,  because  nearly  all  the  trade  from  Teheran 


326    FROM  CONSTANTINOPLE  TO  ERZEROUM. 

went  through  it ;  and  it  had  a  population  of 
forty  thousand  inhabitants,  most  of  whom  were 
Armenians.  The  houses  were  strongly  built  of 
stone,  with  flat  roofs,  which  were  used  by  the 
inmates  as  promenades  during  the  warm  evenings  ; 
and  the  bright  colours  affected  by  the  Turkish 
women  in  their  dress  lent  colour  and  animation 
to  the  scene.  The  town  contained  several  hand- 
some Armenian  churches,  the  inner  walls  of 
which  were  decorated  with  beautiful  blue  tiles  ; 
and  the  konak,  or  townhall,  was  a  very  handsome 
structure.  The  water  supply  was'  chiefly  drawn 
from  wells,  and  there  was  besides  a  small  stream 
that  came  down  from  the  mountains,  while  the 
Euphrates  was  only  four  miles  away. 

Mr.  Zohrab,  who  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
an  Englishman,  and  had  an  English  wife  and  two 
sons,  introduced  all  of  us  newcomers  to  Mukhtar 
Pasha,  the  commander-in-chief,  who  welcomed  us 
most  kindly,  and  thanked  us  for  coming.  We 
found  that  Fetherstonhaugh,  Denniston,  and 
Pinkerton  were  in  charge  of  a  large  hospital, 
which  was  known  as  Lord  Blantyre's  Hospital ; 
and  I  arranged  to  take  over  from  the  Turks  a 
large  hospital  which  had  been  organized  in  the 
Yeni  Khan.  Pinkerton  agreed  to  come  over  to 
me,  as  the  other  two  could  get  through  all  the 
work  at  Lord  Blantyre's  Hospital ;  so  Pinkerton, 
Woods,  and  myself,  with  Harvey  and  Captain 
Morisot  as  assistants,  were  installed  in  the  Yeni 


i877.]  ORGANIZING    A    HOSPITAL.  327 

Khan,  and  took  over  all  the  staff  of  assistants, 
servants,  and  jarra  bashis  that  had  been  employed 
under  the  Turks.  There  were  two  of  these 
jarra  bashis ;  and  one  of  them,  a  Turkish  ser- 
geant, who  had  been  trained  as  a  dresser,  was  one 
of  the  hardest  and  most  conscientious  workers 
as  well  as  one  of  the  best  fellows  that  I  met  in 
Turkey.  I  agreed  to  pay  all  those  whom  I  took 
over  wages  at  the  rate  of  half  what  they  received 
from  the  Turkish  Government  in  addition  to 
their  ordinary  pay  ;  and  as  they  could  never  look 
forward  with  any  degree  of  certainty  to  receiving 
their  money  from  the  Turks,  they  had  an  ad- 
ditional incentive  to  faithful  service,  and  I  was 
enabled  to  secure  a  direct  control  over  them  by 
holding  the  power  of  the  purse.  I  also  took  on 
a  Hungarian  surgeon,  named  Schmidt,  to  assist 
us.  He  was  given  a  room  in  the  hospital,  and 
was  made  the  house  surgeon ;  so  that  in  cases  of 
haemorrhage  there  was  always  a  competent  person 
ready  to  arrest  it  until  one  of  us  could  come  up. 

We  soon  had  everything  ship-shape  in  the  old 
khan,  which  was  converted  into  a  well  equipped 
hospital,  containing  at  the  outset  three  hundred 
beds.  It  was  very  different  from  the  awful 
building  that  I  had  left  behind  in  Plevna.  The 
main  ward  of  our  Stafford  House  Hospital  was 
a  hundred  feet  long,  with  a  width  of  sixty-five 
feet  and  a  height  of  thirty  feet.  It  was  ventilated 
and  lighted  by  means  of  large  glass  skylights, 


328         FROM    CONSTANTINOPLE    TO    ERZEROUM. 

and  warmed  by  two  large  stoves.  This  ward 
contained  ninety-eight  beds,  and  there  was  another 
large  one  containing  sixty-two  beds,  while  smaller 
rooms,  opening  off  these  large  ones,  provided 
accommodation  for  six  or  eight  patients  each, 
the  total  number  of  patients  when  I  took  over 
control  being  three  hundred.  We  had  an  operating- 
room,  a  storeroom,  and  all  the  necessary  offices. 
In  the  main  wards  the  scene  was  almost  pictur- 
esque, if  any  hospital  ever  could  be  picturesque  ; 
for  the  place  was  scrupulously  clean,  and  the  beds 
were  dressed  with  Persian  quilts,  bright  with  the 
most  gorgeous  colours.  As  the  midday  sunbeams 
poured  in  through  the  skylights  overhead,  they 
lit  up  the  scarlets  and  the  greens,  the  cobalt  blues 
and  lemon  yellows,  the  deep  crimson  of  the  rose, 
the  pink  of  the  geranium,  and  the  purple  of  the 
violet,  until  the  whole  place  looked  like  an 
immense  garden  full  of  flowers.  But  against  this 
background  of  brilliant  colours  the  white,  drawn 
faces  of  the  wounded  soldiers  stood  out  in  pitiful 
contrast,  and  the  gay  hues  only  threw  into  still 
stronger  relief  the  ghastly  sufferings. 

At  first  we  had  no  cases  of  sickness,  and  none 
but  wounded  men  to  treat.  Our  death-rate  was 
low — in  the  first  week  we  only  had  six  deaths 
out  of  three  hundred  patients,  and  we  sent  thirty 
men  out  cured  to  rejoin  their  regiments.  After 
the  hideous  experiences  in  Plevna,  this  state  of 
things  was  a  blessed  relief,  and  we  became  quite 


i877.]  A    PRESAGE    OF    TROUBLE.  329 

light-hearted.  But  before  I  left  Erzeroum  I 
had  seen  sufferings  and  horrors  before  which 
the  sufferings  and  horrors  of  the  Plevna  hospital 
paled  into  insignificance. 

The  first  sign  of  coming  trouble  was  the  dis- 
covery one  morning  of  a  case  of  genuine  typhus 
and  several  cases  of  typhoid.  These  we  sent 
away  at  once  to  the  medical  central  hospital,  as 
we  took  over  our  hospital  with  the  stipulation 
that  we  were  to  treat  only  wounded  cases.  But 
that  solitary  case  of  typhus  worried  me  a  good 
deal,  and  it  seemed  to  presage  with  dreadful 
certainty  the  mischief  that  was  to  come. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

The  Scourge  of  Typhus — Pyaemia  and  Pneumonia — Terrible  Cold 
—Outposts  frozen  to  Death— Fall  of  Kars— The  March  of  the 
Wounded — One  Hundred  and  Eighty  Miles  over  the  Snow 
—Ghastly  Effects  of  Frostbite— The  Skeleton  Hands— Over- 
crowding in  the  Hospitals — Dr.  Fetherstonhaugh  falls  111 
— A  Strange  Delusion — "  After  Long  Years  " — Edmund 
O' Donovan — A  Circassian  Dinner  Party — Sucking-pig  d 
r Irlandaise — A  Novel  Target — Departure  of  Mr.  Zohrab 
— We  move  into  the  Consulate — Exodus  to  Erzinghan — 
An  Awful  Sacrifice — Christmas  in  a  Besieged  Town — A 
Remarkable  Plum  Pudding — Illness  of  Pinkerton — Funerals 
in  Erzeroum — Casting  out  the  Dead — "The  Lean  Dogs 
beneath  the  Wall  "—An  Army  Surgeon's  Death— I  fall  Sick 
with  Typhus — Heroic  Devotion  of  James  Denniston — Some 
of  my  Nurses — How  I  recovered — A  Scientific  Experiment — 
The  Brain  of  a  Comatose  Person — Vachin's  Discomfiture. 

As  we  went  round  the  hospital  wards,  now  that 
fever  had  made  its  appearance,  needless  to 
say  that  we  examined  each  patient  anxiously, 
and  every  day  we  found  three  or  four  more  cases 
of  typhus  among  the  wounded  men.  These 
we  weeded  out,  and  placed  in  a  room  specially 
prepared  to  receive  them,  for  on  account  of 
the  severity  of  their  wounds  we  could  not  send 
them  away  to  the  central  hospital. 

330 


i877.]  PYAEMIA   AND    PNEUMONIA.  331 

Early  in  December  the  weather  got  very  bad. 
There  was  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  and  the  hospitals 
were  filled  with  sick,  until  altogether  there  were 
about  four  thousand  sick  and  wounded  in  the 
town.  Captain  Morisot  and  Mr.  Harvey  were 
most  valuable  assistants  ;  but  in  the  first  week 
of  December  Mr.  Harvey,  who  was  wanted  at 
Constantinople,  had  to  leave,  much  to  our  regret. 
Williams,  our  dragoman,  who  had  been  delayed 
on  the  road  by  the  bad  weather,  came  up  with 
the  stores,  and  took  his  place,  turning  out  a  very 
useful  assistant. 

Pyaemia  began  to  make  great  ravages,  and 
the  intense  cold  increased  the  sufferings  of  the 
wounded.  I  amputated  a  man's  arm  at  the 
shoulder  joint,  and  hoped  to  pull  him  through  ; 
but  the  weather  beat  me,  for  he  took  pleurisy, 
and  went  off  in  a  day. 

Pinkerton,  Woods,  and  myself  lived  in  the 
great,  bare  Armenian  house  with  Fetherston- 
haugh  and  Denniston.  Every  morning  we  went 
off  to  our  respective  hospitals,  returned  home  to 
lunch,  and  then  went  back  in  the  afternoon  to 
work  again.  Wood  for  fuel  cost  us  twopence 
per  pound,  and  rations  were  poor  and  scarce  ; 
but  we  pegged  away  doggedly,  and  Mr.  Zohrab 
was  very  good  to  us.  He  had  a  splendid  house 
amply  provisioned  for  the  winter,  and  he  was 
most  hospitable  in  his  invitations  to  dinner ;  while 
his  wife,  who  was  a  charming  Englishwoman,  was 


332  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

always  cheering  us   up,   and  his  two  sons  often 
gave  us  a  hand  at  the  hospital. 

An  ominous  silence  was  maintained  by  our 
Russian  besiegers,  and  we  found  that  they  had 
withdrawn  the  greater  number  of  the  troops  from 
Erzeroum  in  order  to  carry  out  the  assault  on 
Kars.  Typhus,  pyaemia,  pneumonia,  and  the 
bitter,  deadening  cold  were  working  for  the 
Russians,  and  slew  as  many  of  the  defenders  of 
Erzeroum  daily  as  would  have  fallen  under  the 
heaviest  shell  fire.  Woods  became  ill  ;  and  as 
there  was  evidently  heavy  work  before  us,  I 
sent  him  down  to  Constantinople,  thus  reducing 
the  strength  of  our  little  medical  garrison  by  one. 

Snow  began  to  fall  heavily,  and  soon  the  streets 
were  covered  to  a  depth  of  several  feet.  At 
night  the  thermometer  dropped  to  forty  degrees 
below  freezing-point,  and  the  soldiers  in  the  open 
suffered  severely.  Every  morning  five  or  six 
men  were  found  frozen  to  death  on  outpost 
duty,  lying  in  the  snow  with  their  eyes  closed 
and  their  rifles  clasped  in  their  arms. 

Meanwhile  General  Melikoff  was  making 
preparations  for  his  great  attack  on  Kars,  and 
at  last  the  long  expected  assault  was  delivered, 
and  the  Russians  with  their  strange,  untrans- 
latable cry  of  "  Nichivo,"  which  is  the  ultimate 
expression  of  a  reckless  bravery  that  refuses  to 
count  any  cost,  swept  in  upon  the  Turkish 
batteries,  and  took  the  town. 


I877-]  FUGITIVES    FROM    KARS.  333 

Melikoff  could  not  accommodate  his  numerous 
wounded  prisoners  with  quarters,  so  he  conceived 
the  brilliant  idea  of  sending  them  on  to  us  ;  and, 
presenting  each  man  who  could  walk  with  a 
blanket  and  a  few  piastres,  he  despatched  the 
men  on  their  journey  from  Kars  to  Erzeroum. 
What  a  march  was  that !  The  snow  lay  thickly 
on  the  frozen  ground,  and  for  league  after  league 
the  legion  of  the  wounded  dragged  themselves 
along,  staining  the  snow  with  their  blood  as 
they  "  blazed "  their  pathway  from  Kars  to 
Erzeroum.  Hundreds  dropped  dead  on  that 
terrible  march,  and  Mukhtar  Pasha  told  me  that 
out  of  two  thousand  men  who  left  Kars  only 
three  hundred  and  seventeen  reached  Erzeroum. 
About  fifty  of  the  survivors  came  to  our  hospital, 
and  one  of  them  told  me  that  he  left  with  a 
party  of  thirty,  only  ten  of  whom  came  through 
alive,  and  of  these  ten  no  fewer  than  seven  lost 
all  their  toes  from  frostbite. 

Some  typical  cases  of  frostbite  were  grotesque 
in  their  ghastliness.  Fancy  the  experience  of 
two  men  who  came  to  us  for  treatment  after 
dragging  their  wounded  bodies  over  the  hundred 
and  eighty  miles  of  snow  that  separated  Kars 
from  Erzeroum.  Their  hands  had  been  frost- 
bitten early  in  the  march,  and  for  the  last  week 
nothing  was  left  but  the  skeleton  of  each  hand 
from  the  wrist  to  the  finger-tips.  Every  particle 
of  flesh  had  rotted  off,  and  the  bones  were  black 


334  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

with  decomposition.  They  came  to  me  holding 
out  their  blackened  skeleton  hands  feebly  and 
pitifully  before  them,  and  I  lopped  off  the  maimed 
remnants  at  the  wrists.  Both  these  men  died 
from  the  effects  of  that  terrible  march,  which 
not  even  the  lurid  imagination  of  a  Dante  could 
easily  rival. 

We  in  our  turn  had  to  send  out  some  of  our 
lightly  wounded  men  to  relieve  the  congested 
hospitals  and  to  diminish  the  chances  of  an 
epidemic.  On  Christmas  Day  we  sent  away  sixty- 
six,  most  of  whom  were  wounded  in  the  hands 
or  arms,  and  they  started  to  march  to  Baiburt. 
We  were  able  to  give  them  warm  jerseys,  under- 
clothing, long  stockings,  and  woollen  comforters, 
thanks  to  the  generosity  of  Lord  Blantyre ;  and 
three  days  later  we  sent  out  another  thirty,  each 
of  whom  got  ten  piastres  from  Lord  Blantyre's 
fund  in  addition  to  the  clothes.  All  of  the  men 
reached  Baiburt  safely. 

The  hospitals  were  soon  so  crowded  that 
typhus  and  typhoid  fever  raged  with  added 
violence,  and  hospital  gangrene,  that  I  had  seen 
before  in  Plevna,  once  more  made  its  dreaded 
appearance.  We  had  eight  cases  in  our  hospital, 
and  lost  three  of  them.  Pyaemia  and  frostbite 
were  the  other  chief  causes  of  mortality. 

Pinkerton  and  I,  with  Morisot  and  Williams 
to  help  us,  managed  our  three  hundred  beds 
fairly  well  ;  but  it  was  a  great  blow  to  us  when 


i877-]  AFTER    LONG    YEARS.  335 

Williams  took  the  fever,  and  was  added  to  the 
sick  list.  When  Pinkerton  and  myself  met 
Fetherstonhaugh  and  Denniston  in  the  evenings 
at  dinner,  we  used  to  look  at  each  other  curiously, 
wondering  which  would  be  the  first.  It  was 
Fetherstonhaugh.  He  was  attacked  by  a  kind 
of  remittent  fever,  but  tried  to  shake  it  off,  and 
went  about  his  work  as  usual.  One  night,  when 
the  rest  of  us  were  at  dinner,  Fetherstonhaugh 
came  into  the  dining-room,  and  remarked  that 
there  were  three  men  with  their  throats  cut  in 
his  room.  We  rushed  in,  but  found  nothing, 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  time 
Fetherstonhaugh  left  off  work,  so  we  sent  him 
down  to  Trebizond. 

That  was  the  last  that  I  saw  of  him  for  a 
long,  long  time ;  but  the  curious  agency  that  for 
want  of  a  better  name  we  call  coincidence 
brought  us  together  again  after  many  years  in 
a  strange  way.  It  happened  in  Melbourne, 
when  I  had  settled  down  to  steady  work  at  my 
practice,  and  had  almost  forgotten  the  stirring 
days  in  Asia  Minor,  except  for  a  few  rare 
glimpses  when  memory  lifted  the  veil.  I  was 
engaged  one  day  at  the  Supreme  Court  as  a 
professional  witness  in  some  case ;  and  when  I 
stepped  out  of  the  box,  it  occurred  to  me  that 
I  knew  the  face  of  a  man  who  was  sitting  below 
me  in  the  body  of  the  court. 

"  Hullo,    Ryan,  how  are  you?"  he  said. 


336  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

I  looked  again,  and  recognized  Denniston, 
who  told  me  that  he  had  come  out  from 
England  on  a  trip,  and  had  just  strolled  into  the 
court  out  of  idle  curiosity.  As  he  was  talking  to 
me,  I  looked  through  the  door  leading  into  the 
passage,  and  saw  another  face  that  I  recognized. 

"  I  wonder  what  has  become  of  Charlie 
Fetherstonhaugh  ? "  said  Denniston. 

"  Look  behind  you.  There  he  is,"  I  replied, 
as  Charlie  Fetherstonhaugh  himself  came  up, 
sound  and  hearty,  having  left  the  three  men  with 
their  throats  cut  behind  him  in  the  hospital  at 
Erzeroum.  He  too  had  dropped  from  the  clouds, 
and  strolled  into  the  court  by  mere  chance.  So 
we  had  dinner  together  that  evening,  and  great 
was  the  jollification  thereat. 

At  our  Stafford  House  Hospital  in  Erzeroum 
we  had  a  continual  stream  of  fresh  cases,  for  the 
cavalry  were  continually  making  dashes  against 
the  Russians,  and  small  affairs  between  outposts 
came  off  nearly  every  day ;  so  that  as  fast  as  one 
lot  of  patients  died  or  were  discharged  cured,  a 
second  lot  were  brought  in.  Cases  of  frostbite 
became  very  numerous,  and  many  a  time  I  had 
to  lop  off  a  man's  feet  or  hands  the  flesh  of  which 
was  simply  rotting  on  the  bones.  Rations  too 
were  getting  scarce,  and  as  there  was  not  enough 
food  for  every  one  the  prisoners  in  the  gaol  were 
the  first  to  suffer.  The  interior  of  that  Erzeroum 
gaol  was  a  sight  not  soon  to  be  forgotten. 


i877.]  EDMUND    O  DONOVAN.  337 

Crowded  together  in  a  state  of  indescribable  filth, 
the  prisoners  fought  with  the  ferocity  of  wild 
beasts  for  the  few  handfuls  of  raw  grain  that  the 
guard  threw  to  them  occasionally.  Still,  we  con- 
tinued to  get  beef  tea  and  mutton  broth  for  our 
wounded,  and  I  made  a  point  of  going  round  the 
wards  and  administering  it  myself  to  those  who 
needed  it. 

It  was  in  connection  with  a  matter  of  rations 
that  I  remember  Edmund  O' Donovan  especially. 
O' Donovan  was  one  of  the  wildest,  most  brilliant, 
and  original  geniuses  who  ever  left  Ireland  to 
follow  up  the  avocation  of  a  war  correspondent. 
He  came  to  dinner  with  us  one  night,  and  his  wit 
and  versatility  made  a  great  impression  upon  me. 
The  next  time  that  I  saw  him  was  in  response  to 
an  urgent  request  that  I  should  call  upon  him  and 
get  him  out  of  a  scrape.  His  adventure  was  so 
thoroughly  characteristic  that  I  may  be  excused 
for  narrating  it. 

O'Donovan,  it  seemed,  with  the  warm-hearted 
generosity  of  his  race,  had  invited  half  a  dozen 
Circassian  officers  to  dine  with  him,  and  had  pre- 
pared an  appetizing  banquet  for  them.  Among 
the  dishes  was  an  entree  so  savoury,  so  succulent, 
so  entirely  satisfying  to  the  palate  of  an  epicure, 
that  the  Circassians,  like  the  simple  children  of 
nature  that  they  were,  sent  back  their  plates 
again  and  again  for  more.  There  was  something 
new  and  strange  yet  delightful  withal  about  that 

22 


338  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

entree.  The  meat  was  white  and  delicate  and 
tender,  the  gravy  was  of  a  luscious  brown,  and  in 
a  fit  of  absence  of  mind  the  Circassian  officers 
loaded  up  the  whole  cargo,  while  they  laughed 
politely  at  O'Donovan's  best  Dublin  stories,  which 
were  chiefly  remarkable  for  having  points  where 
one  never  expected  them. 

Then  O' Donovan  expressed  a  hope  that  they 
had  enjoyed  the  dinner,  and  the  Circassians  were 
most  effusive  in  their  thanks.  Really  they  had 
never  eaten  anything  like  that  entree  before,  and 
would  their  host  mind  telling  them  the  recipe  ? 

"  Begorra,  I  can  tell  ye  that  aisy  enough," 
spluttered  O'Donovan,  with  a  mighty  laugh. 
"  YeVe  been  at  in'  the  natest  slip  of  a  pig  I've  ever 
seen  out  of  Connaught,  and  beautifully  cooked  he 
was  too."  Then  he  explained  to  them  in  Turkish 
more  clearly,  and  these  good  Mussulmen  burst 
into  eruption.  What  a  shindy  there  was  at  that 
dinner-table!  The  Circassians  could  not  have 
been  quicker  if  they  had  been  at  Donnybrook 
Fair,  and  they  rushed  at  their  host  with  the  first 
weapons  that  came  handy.  O'Donovan  did  very 
well  with  the  bottles  for  a  minute  or  two,  and 
afterwards  with  the  leg  of  a  chair  ;  but  they  were 
too  many  for  him,  and  when  the  table  was  upset 
and  the  lamps  put  out  there  was  a  fairly  lively 
five  minutes  round  the  wreck  of  the  dinner-table 
and  of  the  empty  dish  that  had  once  contained 
a  sucking-pig  a  rirlandaise.  The  Moslem 


i877-]  A    NOVEL    TARGET.  339 

Circassians,  full  to  repletion  with  the  flesh  of  the 
accursed  creature,  fought  under  a  disadvantage ; 
and  when  O' Donovan's  servants  rushed  in  and 
took  their  master's  part,  the  issue  was  no  longer 
in  doubt.  Although  the  revolvers  were  going 
freely,  only  one  man  was  hurt,  and  it  appeared 
that  O'Donovan  had  shot  him  in  the  arm.  The 
affair  created  a  great  deal  of  excitement  at  the 
time,  and  the  Circassians  vowed  vengeance  for 
the  insult ;  but  we  managed  to  pacify  them  even- 
tually, and  there  were  so  many  other  things 
requiring  attention  that  the  trouble  soon  blew 
over. 

This  was  not  the  only  occasion  that  O'Dono- 
van got  into  a  scrape,  for  not  long  afterwards, 
while  promenading  on  the  roof  of  his  house, 
the  idea  occurred  to  him  that  a  little  revolver 
practice  might  improve  his  aim.  Drawing  his 
six-shooter,  he  proceeded  to  blaze  away  at  a  dog 
that  was  gnawing  a  bone  in  the  middle  of  the 
street ;  but  like  another  famous  character  in  fic- 
tion, he  "  missed  the  blue-bottle  and  floored  the 
Mogul."  In  other  words,  a  bullet  which  went 
wide  of  the  dog  found  its  billet  in  a  fleshy  part 
of  the  body  of  a  very  stout  Turkish  woman,  who 
on  receiving  this  flank  attack  fled  in  great  dis- 
order screaming  loudly. 

O'Donovan  sent  for  me  to  help  him  out  of 
this  difficulty  too,  and  we  had  to  give  the  woman 
^"10  to  square  her.  The  erratic  marksman  was 


340  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

then  the  war  correspondent  of  the  Daily  News  ; 
but  I  never  saw  an  account  of  this  incident  in  his 
graphic  descriptive  sketches.  He  left  Erzeroum 
in  December,  and  afterwards,  when  the  army 
of  Hicks  Pasha  was  cut  to  pieces  in  Egypt, 
O' Donovan  met  a  soldier's  death. 

At  this  time  we  lost  the  services  of  Mr.  Zohrab, 
the  consul ;  for  after  the  fall  of  Kars,  Lord  Derby, 
desiring  to  avoid  any  complications  in  the  event 
of  the  Russians  occupying  Erzeroum,  instructed 
the  British  consul  to  retire  at  once  to  Constanti- 
nople. Mr.  Zohrab  and  his  wife  and  sons 
accordingly  left  the  town,  much  to  our  regret,  for 
they  had  been  very  helpful  to  us.  When  he  went, 
however,  he  handed  over  to  us  his  house,  which 
was  fully  provisioned,  amply  supplied  with  fuel, 
and  provided  with  a  well  stocked  cellar.  We 
took  possession  at  once,  and  after  the  poor  kind 
of  way  in  which  we  had  been  living  our  new 
quarters  were  most  luxurious. 

Although  we  personally  were  much  better  off 
than  before,  yet  the  condition  of  the  bulk  of  the 
people  in  the  town  was  getting  steadily  worse 
every  day.  Stores  of  every  kind  were  getting 
scarce,  and  Kurd  Ismael  Pasha,  who  replaced 
Mukhtar  Pasha  as  commander-in-chief  when  that 
officer  was  ordered  to  Constantinople,  had  a 
difficult  task  in  administration.  Towards  the 
end  of  December  it  became  necessary  to  relieve 
the  town  of  a  portion  of  the  population,  and  an 


i877.]  EXODUS    TO    ERZINGHAN.  341 

expedition  consisting  of  four  hundred  men  and 
two  hundred  women  and  children  was  ordered  to 
start  for  Erzinghan,  a  town  which  was  supposed 
to  be  five  days'  journey  distant  from  Erzeroum. 

This  march  rivalled  in  its  horrors  the  march 
of  the  wounded  men  from  Kars  ;  for  before  the 
expedition  had  gone  a  day's  journey  from  Erzeroum 
a  fearful  snowstorm  swept  down  upon  the  hapless 
creatures,  and  when  the  miserable  remnant  had 
dragged  themselves  back  to  their  starting-point 
it  was  found  that  of  the  two  hundred  women  and 
children  not  a  single  soul  remained.  All  died 
where  they  fell,  including  the  wife  of  the  colonel 
commanding  the  expedition,  and  were  buried 
under  the  drifting  heaps  of  snow  that  the  wind 
piled  high  over  the  uncoffined  remains.  Of  the 
soldiers  who  got  back  to  Erzeroum  the  greater 
number  perished  from  frostbite,  dysentery,  and 
exposure.  It  was  an  awful  holocaust. 

In  spite  of  fever  and  dysentery,  gunshot 
wounds  in  horrible  variety  and  septic  disease 
in  every  hospital,  so  strangely  is  the  Anglo-Saxon 
mind  constituted  that  we  decided  to  "  enjoy  our- 
selves "  at  Christmas,  although  the  Russians  were 
practically  knocking  at  our  gates.  My  previous 
Christmas  dinner  consisted  of  a  handful  of  maize 
cobs  eaten  in  solitude  on  the  ice-bound  road  to 
Orkhanieh.  During  the  intervening  year  I  had 
lived  and  worked  and  suffered  much — and  almost 
to  my  own  astonishment  I  was  still  alive.  So 


342  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

here  at  Erzeroum  I  proposed  to  have  a  Christmas 
festivity,  and  Pinkerton,  Denniston,  and  Woods 
eagerly  accepted  the  suggestion.  We  decided  to 
invite  all  the  European  doctors  in  the  town,  and 
to  give  them  a  real  English  Christmas  dinner, 
for  which  great  preparations  had  to  be  made. 

When  we  took  over  Mr.  Zohrab's  house,  we 
also  assumed  a  right  title  and  interest  in  the 
services  of  two  sturdy  henchmen.  One  was 
old  Tom  Rennison,  who  had  been  dragoman  for 
General  Williams  during  the  siege  of  Erzeroum 
thirty  years  before,  and  the  other  was  an  Armenian 
named  Vachin.  Tom  Rennison,  veteran  cam- 
paigner as  he  was,  had  never  seen  mince-pies 
made,  so  to  speak,  under  fire ;  and  Vachin  knew 
more  about  the  preparation  of  pilaf  than  plum 
pudding.  Consequently  not  only  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  menu,  but  the  actual  work  of  cooking 
it,  devolved  upon  the  medical  staff;  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that,  though  by  this  time  there  were 
few  things  in  surgery  which  we  would  not  attempt, 
from  disarticulation  of  a  thumb  to  amputation  of 
a  thigh,  nevertheless  in  the  science  of  cooking 
we  were  painfully  unlearned.  Lister  was  an 
open  book  to  us  ;  but  the  dark  sayings  of  Brillat- 
Savarin  were  as  obscure  as  the  Rig-Vedas. 

Pinkerton,  Woods,  and  myself  held  a  consulta- 
tion over  the  plum  pudding,  which  was  intended 
to  beget  envy  and  jealousy  in  the  hearts  of  the 
Austrian  and  Hungarian  doctors,  and  to  be  a 


i877.]  A    CHRISTMAS    PARTY.  343 

dazzling  example  of  the  superiority  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  cooking  over  the  unsubstantial  kickshaws 
of  continental  cuisines.  I  noticed  that  Vachin, 
who  was  always  an  ill  disposed  fellow,  looked 
undisguisedly  contemptuous  of  our  preparations, 
and  that  old  Tom  Rennison  was  obviously  fluctua- 
ting between  the  extremes  of  hope  and  fear.  It 
is  not  easy  to  recollect  exactly  what  was  in  that 
pudding.  Denniston  had  heard  that  suet  was  an 
ingredient  of  supreme  importance,  so  the  yellow 
fat  was  cut  from  the  joint  of  beef  which  had  been 
moving  about  the  yard  only  two  days  before  as 
the  sirloin  of  Mr.  Zohrab's  best  heifer.  We  found 
plenty  of  currants  and  raisins  among  the  stores  ; 
but  there  was  no  candied  peel,  and  the  spices 
which  had  been  imported  from  Teheran  somehow 
smelt  quite  unlike  the  unconvincing  substance 
that  we  remembered  to  have  seen  in  our  youth 
at  the  suburban  grocer's.  We  had  plenty  of  flour 
of  course,  and  we  mixed  our  chef-d'oeuvre  in  a  big 
brown  pot.  It  was  a  viscous,  cedematous  mass, 
of  the  consistency  of  soft  indiarubber,  when  we 
had  done  mixing  it,  and  it  resembled  nothing  so 
much  as  a  bucketful  of  Zante  currants  which  had 
fallen  by  accident  into  a  glue-pot.  The  other 
fellows  made  some  very  discouraging  remarks  ; 
but  I  tied  up  the  ghastly  mixture  in  half  a  clean 
sheet,  and  sat  up  all  night  on  Christmas  Eve 
boiling  it  in  the  iron  pot. 

On  Christmas  night  we  had  a  grand  banquet, 


344  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

and  about  twenty  other  European  doctors  came 
in  answer  to  our  invitations  to  receive  our  hos- 
pitality. We  explained  to  them  at  some  length 
that  we  were  going  to  give  them  a  real  English 
dinner,  which  was  a  treat  that  they  had  probably 
never  enjoyed  before,  and  very  likely  might 
never  enjoy  again. 

Certainly  the  beef  was  a  little  tough,  as  the 
hapless  heifer  had  only  been  sacrificed  on  the 
previous  day,  and  then  there  was  no  horse-radish 
and  very  little  gravy ;  but  the  geese  were  first- 
rate.  Like  everything  else  in  Asia  Minor,  they 
were  evidently  of  great  antiquity.  Probably  they 
had  seen  the  former  siege  of  Erzeroum  ;  but  age, 
which  weakens  most  other  things,  had  strengthened 
their  limbs  and  steeled  their  muscles,  until  to 
disintegrate  the  closely  knitted  tissues  was  a 
veritable  feat  of  strength,  and  one  swallowed  a 
mouthful  with  the  comfortable  glow  of  satisfaction 
that  follows  the  surmounting  of  a  desperate 
difficulty.  Of  the  mince-pies  I  cannot  speak 
with  certainty,  for  Woods  had  taken  complete 
control  over  the  manufacture  of  these  delicious 
delicacies,  and,  much  as  I  respected  my  colleague, 
I  was  suspicious  of  his  ingredients.  I  can  testify, 
however,  from  the  simple  experience  of  lifting 
one  up  from  the  dish  that  the  mince-pies  were 
solid  and  weighty  additions  to  the  menu.  I 
waited  with  some  anxiety  for  the  pudding,  and 
the  happiness  that  the  artist  feels  in  a  work 


1877.]  A   CHRISTMAS    PARTY.  345 

completed  came  over  me  as  I  saw  old  Tom 
Rennison  bearing  in  the  dish  containing  the 
pudding,  surrounded  by  leaping  tongues  of  blue 
flame  from  the  burning  brandy.  Up  to  this 
period  the  Hungarian  doctors  had  been  politely 
complimentary,  and  had  accepted  slabs  of  heifer's 
flesh  as  hard  as  boot  leather  and  chunks  of  goose 
that  would  have  made  excellent  ammunition  for 
siege  artillery  as  typical  dishes  of  a  correct 
English  dinner.  By  dint  of  washing  the  food 
down  with  plenty  of  wine  and  many  tumblers  of 
brandy-and-water,  they  struggled  along  gamely 
through  the  first  courses  ;  but  when  they  received 
their  portions  of  the  plum  pudding  they  distinctly 
jibbed.  With  the  flames  playing  round  its 
charred,  excoriated  surface,  it  certainly  had  a  dia- 
bolical look,  and  it  held  together  with  a  glutinous 
consistency  that  for  an  appreciable  number  of 
seconds  defied  the  attack  even  of  a  carving-knife. 
The  Hungarian  doctors  viewed  their  plates  with 
an  alarmed  suspicion  that  was  too  genuine  to 
be  concealed,  and  I  must  confess  that  when  I 
got  a  spoonful  of  my  masterpiece  into  my  mouth 
the  taste  did  not  compensate  in  the  least  for 
the  difficulty  of  detaching  the  fragment  from  the 
surrounding  bed-rock.  That  was  the  first  and 
last  time  that  I  cooked  a  plum  pudding. 

In  spite  of  these  little  drawbacks,  however, 
we  all  thoroughly  enjoyed  our  Christmas  dinner, 
and  we  made  a  fair  hole  in  Mr.  Zohrab's  cellar, 


34-6  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

which  was  well  stocked  with  wines  and  spirits 
and  also  with  beer  and  porter.  The  dawn  was 
coming  up  over  the  snow  on  the  distant  hills 
when  we  separated,  laughing,  singing,  and  wish- 
ing each  other  a  Merry  Christmas  and  a  Happy 
New  Year. 

Within  a  fortnight  nearly  every  one  of  us  was 
down  with  typhus,  and  within  a  month  more  than 
half  of  our  number  were  dead. 

The  first  of  the  English  doctors  to  catch  the 
fever  was  poor  Pinkerton.  He  was  always 
terribly  frightened  of  it,  and  used  to  carry  quan- 
tities of  camphor  about  in  his  pockets  as  a 
disinfectant  ;  but  with  the  epidemic  raging  as 
it  was,  any  attempt  at  personal  disinfection  for 
a  medical  man  attending  the  cases  was  practi- 
cally hopeless.  Pinkerton  was  always  talking 
about  his  dread  of  getting  typhus,  and  saying 
that  if  he  caught  it  he  would  never  get  over 
it.  This  made  Denniston  and  myself  very 
anxious  about  him  ;  for  though  he  was  a  splen- 
didly built,  handsome  fellow,  with  an  excellent 
constitution,  his  apprehensions  laid  him  open  to 
attack  more  readily,  and  would  certainly  decrease 
his  chance  of  recovery  if  the  fever  got  its  clutch 
upon  him.  Wrought  up  to  a  state  of  high 
nervous  tension  by  continually  moving  among 
the  sick  and  the  dying,  it  was  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  we  attached  significance  to  the  veriest 
trifles,  and  both  Denniston  and  myself  recollected 


1878.]  RAVAGES    OF    TYPHUS.  347 

with  dismay  that  every  one  of  our  patients  who 
had  had  a  presentiment  of  death  up  to  that  time 
had  died. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  old  year  Pinkerton 
became  ill,  and  we  put  him  to  bed.  He  was 
very  despondent,  and  I  could  see  at  once  that 
he  had  an  attack  of  the  most  malignant  typhus. 
He  was  a  very  bad  patient,  and  would  take 
neither  his  medicine  nor  his  nourishment  without 
a  great  deal  of  trouble.  Our  number  was  now 
reduced  to  two,  and  Denniston  and  myself  looked 
at  each  other  every  morning  with  questioning 
gaze.  Fortunately  Denniston  had  had  malignant 
typhus  in  his  student  days  at  Glasgow,  and  was 
not  likely  to  take  it  again,  while  I  felt  that  if  I 
could  only  pull  through  we  might  still  be  able 
to  keep  on  the  two  hospitals.  After  three  or 
four  days  Pinkerton  fell  into  a  semi-comatose 
condition,  from  which  he  never  emerged,  but  lay 
in  bed  moaning  feebly,  and  talking  incoherently 
at  intervals  of  fighting  and  of  operations  and  of 
places  and  people  whose  names  were  unfamiliar 
to  me. 

How  clearly  those  dreadful  days  come  back  ! 
We  had  the  ever  present,  bitter,  numbing  cold, 
and  the  ceaseless  work  in  the  hospital  as  one 
passed  from  bed  to  bed,  from  the  moaning 
wounded  to  the  poor  wretches  who  were  being 
consumed  by  the  fires  of  fever,  and  thence  to 
the  ghastly  mutilated  creatures  who  had  lost 


348  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

hands,  feet,  ears,  and  even  noses  by  frostbite. 
Then  there  was  in  addition  the  anxiety  about 
Pinkerton,  and  the  fear  that  one  or  both  of  us 
two  survivors  would  succumb  to  the  strain,  and 
thus  leave  the  bulk  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
without  medical  succour.  In  addition  to  it  all 
was  the  nervous  strain  of  waiting  for  the  expected 
Russian  attack,  which  would  have  been  gladly 
welcomed  as  a  relief  from  the  intolerable  tension. 

During  these  early  days  of  January,  1878,  the 
mortality  in  Erzeroum  was  something  appalling. 
Out  of  a  total  number  of  about  seventeen  thousand 
troops  in  the  town,  there  were  on  one  day  no 
fewer  than  three  hundred  and  two  deaths,  and 
the  daily  death-rate  frequently  rose  to  two 
hundred !  The  weak,  emaciated  survivors  had 
hardly  strength  left  to  dig  graves  for  their  dead 
comrades  in  the  hard  and  frozen  ground.  At 
last  they  gave  up  even  the  pretence  of  digging, 
and  the  bodies  were  simply  carted  out  about  a 
mile  from  the  main  thoroughfares  of  the  town, 
and  left  in  the  snow  just  inside  the  city  walls. 

Of  course  all  conveyances  were  placed  on 
runners  while  the  snow  was  on  the  ground,  and 
the  little  sleighs  which  served  as  dead-carts 
passed  our  house  every  morning  at  about  ten 
o'clock  with  their  mournful  loads  collected  from 
the  various  hospitals.  The  bodies  of  the  dead 
soldiers  were  stripped  of  their  clothing  and 
wrapped  in  clean  white  sheets  according  to  the 


1878].  CASTING   OUT   THE    DEAD.  349 

Moslem  custom.  Each  little  sleigh  contained 
ten  or  twelve  bodies,  and  as  I  looked  out  in  the 
morning  I  could  see  the  burial  parties  going  out 
on  duty.  The  white-sheeted  corpses  were  packed 
closely  together  ;  and  as  the  sleighs  had  no  tail- 
boards and  were  very  small,  the  naked  feet  of 
the  corpses  projected  out  at  the  back  in  a  horribly 
grotesque  fashion.  As  the  little  vehicles,  which 
were  dragged  by  the  fatigue  squads,  glided  in 
ghostly  silence  over  the  frozen  snow  a  long  howl 
in  the  distance  broke  the  stillness.  This  was 
taken  up  by  another,  and  another,  and  another, 
until  the  voices  of  fully  fifteen  hundred  famished 
dogs  came  through  the  crisp,  clear  wintry  air 
with  terrible  significance,  chilling  the  marrow  of 
the  listener  as  he  watched  the  long  procession  of 
helpless,  white-sheeted  corpses  moving  slowly  over 
the  white-sheeted  ground.  A  Parsee's  obsequies, 
when  the  filthy  vultures  flap  their  wings  and  gather 
to  the  feast,  must  be  an  eerie  sight ;  a  Gussein's 
funeral  in  the  Ganges,  where  the  great  flat-nosed 
alligators  swarm  expectantly,  must  stir  even  the 
sluggish  imagination  of  the  impassive  Hindoo. 
But  surely  no  man  ever  had  more  dreadful  burial 
rites  than  were  celebrated  daily  over  hundreds  of 
the  dead  inside  the  walls  of  Erzeroum,  where  the 
famished  dogs  disputed  the  possession  of  the  poor 
mutilated  remnants  with  sickening  ferocity,  and 
where  the  only  prayers  over  the  bodies  of  the 
dead  were  the  muttered  growls  of  the  worrying 


35O  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

pack.  There  is  a  short  passage  in  "  The  Siege  of 
Corinth  "  which  exactly  describes  the  grisly  scene. 
Lord  Byron  wrote  of  Alp  the  renegade  as  he 
paced  under  the  walls  of  Corinth  these  lines  : 

And  he  saw  the  lean  dogs  beneath  the  wall 

Hold  o'er  the  dead  their  carnival, 

Gorging  and  growling  o'er  carcase  and  limb. 

They  were  too  busy  to  bark  at  him. 

From  a  Tartar's  skull  they  had  stripped  the  flesh 

As  ye  peel  the  fig  when  its  fruit  is  fresh, 

And  their  white  tusks  crunched  o'er  the  whiter  skull 

As  it  slipped  through  their  jaws  when  their  edge  grew  dull, 

As  they  lazily  mumbled  the  bones  of  the  dead 

When  they  scarce  could  rise  from  the  spot  where  they  fed. 

In  this  passage  the  poet  has  described  with 
more  detail  than  one  cares  to  give  in  a  plain 
narrative  the  scene  which  was  enacted  every 
morning  in  the  early  part  of  that  month  of 
January  within  the  walls  of  Erzeroum. 

It  was  about  January  8  that  I  took  the 
fever,  which  was  by  this  time  ravaging  both  the 
civil  and  military  population.  At  first  I  tried  to 
shake  it  of£  and  continued  to  walk  about  with 
aching  head  and  quaking  limbs  in  the  hope  that 
it  might  not  have  got  a  fair  hold  of  me.  On  the 
second  day  I  became  quite  stupid,  though  I  still 
refused  to  go  to  bed,  and  on  the  evening  of  that 
day  Pinkerton  died. 

Next  morning  we  buried  him.  Wood  was  so 
difficult  to  get,  that  we  were  put  to  great  straits 
to  make  a  coffin  for  him  ;  but  at  last  we  contrived 


1878.]  I    AM    ILL   WITH    TYPHUS.  35! 

one  out  of  an  old  packing-case.  Pinkerton  was 
a  very  tall  man,  and  the  flimsy  coffin  was  hardly 
big  enough  for  the  body.  There  was  scarcely 
enough  wood  to  make  the  lid  fit  properly.  When 
we  were  making  the  preparations  for  the  burial, 
I  was  myself  nearly  delirious  with  typhus,  and 
almost  the  last  thing  that  I  can  remember  before 
going  off  altogether  was  the  sight  of  the  miser- 
able coffin  with  a  gaping  crevice  in  the  top,  through 
which  the  end  of  poor  Pinkerton's  silky  fair  beard 
was  protruding.  Denniston  notified  Hakki  Bey, 
the  civil  governor,  of  our  loss  ;  and  an  escort  of 
soldiers  came  down  and  buried  our  comrade  by 
the  side  of  Dr.  Guppy,  who  had  died  on  duty  in 
the  same  place  before  we  arrived  there.  The 
burial  service  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cole, 
an  American  missionary,  who  was  in  Erzeroum, 
accompanied  by  his  wife  and  family  and  by  a 
young  American  lady,  also  engaged  in  missionary 
work  among  the  Armenians.  Then  the  soldiers 
fired  a  volley  over  the  grave,  and  the  career  of 
the  fine  young  army  surgeon  was  closed. 

When  I  was  put  to  bed,  the  whole  strength  of 
the  medical  and  assisting  staff  of  the  two  English 
hospitals,  Lord  Blantyre's  Hospital  and  that  of  the 
Stafford  House  Committee,  was  reduced  to  one 
man,  namely,  Dr.  Denniston.  Guppy  and  Pinker- 
ton  were  dead,  and  Williams,  Morisot,  and  myself 
were  down  with  typhus.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, Denniston  was  left  with  the  two  hospitals 


352  A   BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

full  of  patients  to  look  after  as  well  as  us  three  at 
home,  and  he  rose  to  the  occasion  most  heroically. 

Of  course  at  that  time  I  was  unconscious  of 
everything,  but  I  found  out  afterwards  what 
happened.  Denniston  handed  the  English  hos- 
pital back  to  the  Turkish  administration  which 
had  managed  it  before'  our  arrival,  and  he  secured 
an  assistant  from  the  French  consul  to  help  him 
with  the  other  one  and  with  us.  He  told  me 
afterwards  that  I  made  a  very  good  patient,  but 
I  doubt  it.  I  can  just  remember  him  coming  in 
to  see  me  one  day  and  giving  me  a  pill,  which, 
though  I  was  almost  delirious,  I  made  a  great 
pretence  of  swallowing,  but  really  kept  it  under 
my  tongue  and  spat  it  out  as  soon  as  he  had 
left  the  room ! 

The  American  missionary,  Mr.  Cole,  used  to 
come  and  sit  with  me  sometimes.  I  had  known 
him  before  I  was  ill,  and  admired  his  character 
greatly.  He  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  very  fine 
type  of  man  and  a  true  Christian.  In  Erzeroum 
at  that  time  the  healing  of  souls  was  attended 
with  as  much  danger  as  the  healing  of  bodies, 
and  there  were  martyrs  in  both  causes.  Mr. 
Cole  lost  one  of  his  children  from  typhus,  and 
the  bright,  winning,  and  enthusiastic  young 
American  lady  who  was  working  as  a  missionary 
in  conjunction  with  him  and  Mrs.  Cole  also  laid 
down  her  life  in  the  noble  service  in  which  she 
had  engaged. 


1878.]  SOME    OF    MY    NURSES.  353 

During  the  day,  while  Denniston  was  away  at 
the  hospital  fighting  a  desperate  single-handed 
battle  against  wounds  and  disease  of  every  kind, 
we  patients  at  home  had  many  kindly  visitors. 
Morisot  and  Williams  got  over  the  worst  of  the 
illness  sooner  than  I  did ;  but  for  some  time  we 
all  required  watching. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  during  my  illness  I 
grievously  erred  against  good  taste,  and  quite 
forgot  the  esteem  and  regard  which  I  venture 
to  believe  I  had  always  hitherto  shown  towards 
ladies.  The  fact  of  the  matter  was  that  I  had 
seen  so  few  ladies  in  the  past  eighteen  months 
that  the  sight  of  them  irritated  and  annoyed  my 
disordered  brain  exceedingly.  So  it  came  about 
that,  when  two  sweet-faced  French  nuns,  who 
had  heard  from  Dr.  Denniston  of  his  desperate 
need  for  nurses,  called  in  and  visited  me,  I  viewed 
their  presence  with  the  profoundest  suspicion  and 
distrust.  I  had  been  working  for  so  long  among 
great,  strong,  hairy-faced  Turks  that  my  delirious 
imagination  failed  to  recognize  these  two  young 
nuns,  with  their  rustling  skirts  and  their  soft 
white  hands,  as  fellow  creatures  at  all,  and  I 
expressed  such  terror  and  alarm  at  their  appear- 
ance that  the  poor  things  were  obliged  to  fly. 
In  the  Ingoldsby  Legends  there  is  a  picture  of 
Francois  Xavier  Auguste,  the  gay  mousquetaire ', 
sitting  up  in  bed  in  an  attitude  of  horror,  while 
on  chairs  at  each  side  of  his  pillow  sit  duplicate 

23 


354  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

images  of  Sister  Therese.  I  must  have  looked 
very  much  like  that  when  the  well  meaning  nuns 
came  in  to  sit  by  me,  and  found  my  language  and 
demeanour  so  terrifying  that  they  had  to  decamp 
at  once,  leaving  me  to  the  less  exciting  ministra- 
tions of  a  dear  old  Capuchin  monk  called  Father 
Basilio,  who  was  sent  to  take  their  place.  He 
used  to  sit  up  with  me  in  the  long  night  watches 
and  humour  all  my  fancies,  kindly  old  soul  that 
he  was ;  but  I  think  he  never  expected  that  I 
would  pull  through. 

Though  young  in  years,  I  was  a  veteran  as 
far  as  horrors  were  concerned,  and  I  can  truth- 
fully say  that  I  was  absolutely  without  fear  of 
death.  Possibly  it  was  this  that  saved  me,  for 
I  remember  telling  Denniston  at  the  worst 
period  of  my  illness  that  he  need  have  no  fear 
on  my  account,  for  I  had  not  the  slightest  inten- 
tion of  "  pegging  out." 

I  was  very  bad  for  about  twelve  days,  and  the 
events  of  that  time  of  illness  impressed  them- 
selves on  my  brain  in  the  vaguest  and  most 
indistinct  manner.  Still,  it  is  interesting  from 
the  scientific  point  of  view  to  note  that  impres- 
sions can  be  made  even  upon  a  semi-comatose 
brain  which  are  sufficiently  strong  to  be  of 
subsequent  use.  The  negatives  on  the  con- 
volutions of  the  brain  were  not  very  sharply 
outlined  ;  but  the  will,  like  a  skilful  photographer, 
could  retouch  them  afterwards  until  they  made  a 


1878.]  HOW    I    RECOVERED.  355 

perfect  picture.  This  scientific  fact  I  was  able 
to  demonstrate  myself,  to  the  great  confusion 
of  our  Armenian  dragoman  Vachin. 

It  happened  this  way.  When  I  recovered 
from  the  fever,  I  was  helping  Denniston  to 
make  an  inventory  of  poor  Pinkerton's  personal 
effects,  so  that  we  could  send  them  to  his  relatives, 
when  we  made  the  unpleasant  discovery  that 
a  sum  of  £20  which  he  had  in  his  possession 
was  missing.  Pinkerton  used  to  carry  the  money 
in  Turkish  liras  in  the  pocket  of  his  trousers  ; 
and  as  I  had  been  shifted  into  his  room  after  his 
death  because  it  was  larger  and  airier  than  my 
own,  his  trousers  were  hanging  on  a  nail  on 
the  wall  right  opposite  my  bed.  We  examined 
the  pockets,  but  they  were  empty. 

Then  I  began  to  think  back  and  to  think 
hard.  Gradually  there  appeared  before  the  eye 
of  my  mind  the  picture  of  a  shadowy,  misty, 
unsubstantial  figure,  that  wobbled  grievously 
from  side  to  side  as  it  walked,  and  seemed  to 
turn  round  and  round  with  the  room,  the 
bed,  the  chair,  and  the  window,  which  all  swung 
and  oscillated  like  the  engines  of  the  little 
Messageries  steamer  that  brought  us  up  to 
Trebizond.  What  on  earth  was  the  captain  of 
the  Messageries  steamer  going  to  do !  and  how 
the  little  tub  was  rolling,  to  be  sure !  Was 
it  the  captain,  though,  or  sortie  one  else  ?  I 
fastened  all  the  will  power  of  my  brain,  healthy 


356  A    BELEAGUERED    CITY. 

once  more,  upon  the  misty  shadow  cast  upon 
its  disordered  surface  during  illness.  I  saw  the 
scene  again,  more  distinctly  now,  and  noted  that 
the  wobbling  figure  approached  the  wall  exactly 
at  the  spot  where  the  trousers  hung  on  the  nail 
opposite  my  bed.  The  engines  seemed  to  be 
slowing  down,  little  by  little  the  room  ceased 
to  revolve,  and  at  last  the  figure  turned  round 
towards  my  bed,  and  I  saw  the  face.  It  was 
not  the  captain  of  the  steamer,  but  it  was  Vachin, 
our  dragoman,  and  he  was  deliberately  counting 
out  money  from  poor  Pinkerton's  trousers  pocket. 

All  this  came  back  to  me  with  greater  clear- 
ness the  longer  I  thought  over  it ;  and  at  last 
I  felt  morally  certain  that  Vachin  was  the  thief, 
and  that  he  had  cynically  taken  the  money 
before  my  eyes,  knowing  that  I  was  delirious, 
and  confident  that  I  would  never  recover  to 
bear  witness  against  him. 

We  taxed  the  Armenian  with  the  theft ;  and 
when  I  told  him  that  it  was  no  use  denying  it, 
for  I  had  seen  him  take  the  money,  he  confessed 
his  guilt.  A  short  consultation  between 
Denniston  and  myself  was  followed  by  the 
despatch  of  a  note  to  Hakki  Bey,  the  civil 
governor ;  and  as  a  punishment  for  misdeeds 
in  the  past  and  an  incentive  to  virtue  in  the 
future,  Vachin  was  consigned  to  the  Erzeroum 
general  prison  pending  the  pleasure  of  the 
governor.  We  got  back  the  £20  from  him 


1878.  VACHIN  S    DISCOMFITURE.  357 

before  he  went,  and  for  three  weeks  we  left 
him  in  a  place,  from  which  the  Black  Hole  of 
Calcutta  would  have  been  a  pleasant  change, 
to  meditate  upon  the  instability  of  human 
happiness.  We  sent  him  some  blankets  and 
also  food  at  intervals,  besides  going  up  occa- 
sionally to  see  how  he  was  getting  on  and 
whether  he  was  truly  repentant.  The  condition 
of  the  unfortunate  wretch,  however,  was  so  de- 
plorable, and  the  interior  of  that  prison,  with 
its  gangs  of  half-frozen,  half-starved  prisoners 
fighting  fiercely  among  themselves  for  the  scanty 
dole  of  raw  grain  and  old  rags  that  were  thrown 
among  them  by  the  gaolers,  was  so  distressing, 
that  we  relented,  and  procured  a  release  for 
our  thievish  dragoman  from  Hakki  Bey.  On 
the  night  that  he  was  discharged  from  prison 
he  deserted  to  the  Russians,  and  we  never  saw 
him  again.  And  so  farewell  to  Vachin. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

Convalescence — Membra  Disjecta — Mortality  among  the  Medi- 
cal Staff— "  En  haut  Mystere,  en  bas  Misere  "—Arrival 
of  Dr.  Stoker  and  Dr.  Stiven — A  Desperate  Journey — 
In  the  Hands  of  the  Russians — Free  under  the  English 
Flag — I  resume  Duty — An  Archaeological  Curio — Antiques 
for  Sale — An  Armistice  declared — Appearance  of  the 
Russians — The  Gates  thrown  Open — Entry  of  the  Russian 
Army — Our  Russian  Confreres — The  Advantage  of  knowing 
French — A  Friend  in  need — Captain  Pizareff — An  Impressive 
Review — Under  the  Russian  Eagles — War  or  Peace  ?  — 
Interview  with  General  Melikoff — An  Unpleasant  Type  of 
Consul — Charming  Russian  Visitors — I  receive  a  Decora- 
tion— Celebrating  the  Occasion — Our  Russian  Guests — A 
Series  of  Dinner  Parties — Duties  of  a  Cossack  Escort — A 
Perilous  Adventure— The  Hero  of  Devoi  Boyun — We  leave 
the  Consulate — Fate's  Irony  at  the  Last — Death  of  General 
Heymann. 

WHEN  I  rose  from  my  sick-bed  I  was  very  thin 
and  weak ;  but  under  Denniston's  care  I  soon 
picked  up  my  strength,  and  at  last  he  allowed 
me  to  go  out  for  a  walk.  It  was  the  first  week 
in  February,  and  the  snow  was  beginning  to 
melt  on  the  low  ground ;  although  beyond  the 
valley  in  which  Erzeroum  stood  it  still  lay  thick 
upon  the  hills,  and  Kopdagh  in  the  distance  rose 

358 


1878.]  HORRORS    OF    ERZEROUM.  359 

to   a   crystal    spear-point   of   dazzling   whiteness 
outlined  sharply  against  the  sky. 

Contrasted  with  the  serene  purity  of  the  moun- 
tain heights,  the  squalid  horrors  of  Erzeroum  in 
the  valley  struck  home  to  the  imagination  with 
redoubled  force.  Here  and  there,  as  I  paced 
through  the  streets  with  the  unsteady  gait  and  the 
frequent  pauses  of  a  man  scarcely  yet  recovered 
from  fever,  I  could  see  in  the  dirty,  brownish, 
melting  slush  grim  evidences  of  disease  and 
death.  The  hordes  of  dogs  which  infested  the 
town  had  dragged  the  bones  of  the  dead  men  who 
had  been  abandoned  to  them  into  the  very  streets  ; 
and  as  the  snow  which  hid  the  poor  remains  for 
a  time  began  to  melt,  the  bones  reappeared  in 
ghastly  fashion.  Close  to  the  doorstep  of  our  own 
quarters  I  saw  a  skull  picked  as  clean  as  a  piece 
of  ivory ;  and  before  I  had  gone  a  hundred  yards 
another  pitiable  sight  met  my  eyes.  It  was  the 
bone  of  a  man's  arm,  from  which  the  hand  was 
missing,  and  the  cleanness  of  the  cut  showed  that 
it  had  been  amputated  during  life.  Probably  it 
had  been  a  case  of  frostbite.  On  every  side,  as  I 
walked  on  feebly  and  slowly,  I  saw  these  human 
remains  peeping  shamefacedly  from  the  snow 
that  would  no  longer  cover  them  ;  and  a  few 
inquiries  showed  me  that  while  I  was  raving 
with  the  fever  and  unconscious  of  all  around  me, 
terrible  things  had  been  happening  in  Erzeroum. 
The  place  had  become  a  veritable  pesthouse ; 


360  THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

and  while  the  civil  and  military  population  had 
alike  fallen  under  the  scourge  of  typhus,  by  far 
the  heaviest  losses  had  occurred  in  the  ranks  of 
the  medical  staff.  No  fewer  than  twenty-seven 
doctors  had  been  attacked  by  the  disease ;  and 
the  malignant  form  in  which  it  appeared  may  be 
gauged  from  the  fact  that  of  these  twenty-seven 
more  than  half  had  succumbed.  Of  the  survivors 
I  was  one.  I  knew  then — and  have  remembered 
it  ever  since — that  I  owed  my  life  to  the  skill  and 
care  of  that  devoted  surgeon  James  Denniston. 
Looking  round  the  fever-stricken  town,  I  saw 
on  every  hand  dead  men  lying  in  the  snow,  and 
living  men,  worn  to  shadows  like  myself,  crawling 
feebly  about  the  streets ;  while  outside  the  gates 
the  Russians  were  waiting  grimly  until  the  thaw 
should  enable  them  to  bring  up  their  artillery 
and  complete  the  work  that  sickness  had  begun. 
Then  lifting  my  eyes  to  the  mountains,  I  saw 
them  rearing  their  unapproachable  pinnacles  to  the 
sky,  far  above  human  suffering  and  weakness. 
The  shadows  of  the  clouds  moved  across  the  face 
of  one  great  snow-field  to  the  southward,  but  the 
ice-peak  that  pierced  the  blue  above  was  iridescent 
in  the  sunlight.  It  seemed  like  an  illustration 
of  the  words  of  that  French  poet  who  wrote  : 

En  haut  la  time, 
En  has  1'abime. 

En  haut  mystbre, 
En  bas  misere. 


1878.]  DRS.    STOKER    AND    STIVEN.  361 

As  I  drew  near  our  quarters  again  after  my 
short  walk,  I  saw  a  small  crowd  gathered  near 
the  door ;  and  next  minute  I  was  shaking  hands, 
with  a  heart  too  full  for  words,  with  my  old 
friends  Dr.  Stoker  and  Dr.  Stiven,  who  had 
come  up  from  Constantinople  on  a  mission  of 
relief. 

When  I  fell  ill  and  Denniston  was  left  alone,  he 
managed  to  get  a  letter  away  to  Constantinople 
through  the  Russian  lines  announcing  the  pre- 
carious position  in  Erzeroum,  and  Dr.  Stoker  and 
Dr.  Stiven  at  once  volunteered  to  come  up  as  a 
rescue  party.  Reaching  Trebizond  on  January  27, 
they  pushed  forward  at  once,  preparations  for 
the  journey  having  been  expedited  by  Mr. 
Biliotti ;  but  they  had  to  stop  most  of  the  first 
night  at  Jevislik  to  rest  the  post-horses,  and 
here  the  hazardous  nature  of  their  undertaking 
was  brought  home  to  them.  An  early  start  was 
made  next  morning,  and  all  that  day  these  two 
heroic  men  pushed  on  with  tired  horses,  a  re- 
luctant guide,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
of  snow  and  ice  in  front  of  them.  The  road  was 
excessively  difficult,  for  the  little  pathway,  about 
two  feet  wide,  was  frozen  and  slippery,  and 
wound  along  the  edge  of  a  cliff  about  nine 
hundred  feet  high,  while  snowdrifts,  which  in 
some  places  were  twenty  feet  deep,  threatened 
to  engulf  them.  Several  times  the  baggage-horses 
fell,  and  the  whole  party  had  to  halt  and  unpack 


362  THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

and  reload  the  animals  ;  so  that  the  march  was 
much  delayed,  and  it  was  two  hours  after  dark 
before  they  reached  the  summit  of  the  Zegana 
Pass,  where  they  camped  for  the  night.  The 
next  day  they  reached  Ghumish  Khane,  and 
there  for  the  first  time  since  leaving  Trebizond 
they  got  a  relay  of  post-horses.  A  long  struggle 
of  eighteen  hours  brought  the  relief  party  from 
Ghumish  Khane  to  Baiburt ;  and  after  procuring 
fresh  horses  with  some  difficulty,  they  pushed 
on  to  the  Kop  village  at  the  foot  of  the  worst 
pass  on  the  whole  road. 

Here  another  misfortune  befell  them  ;  for  the 
guide,  who  had  been  showing  an  inclination  to 
give  in  for  several  stages  past,  refused  when 
they  were  half-way  up  the  mountain  to  go  a  step 
farther,  declaring  that  it  was  madness  to  attempt 
the  pass  in  such  weather,  and  that  they  were 
courting  certain  death  from  the  avalanches  that 
they  could  hear  at  intervals  thundering  down 
into  the  valley  below. 

Taking  their  lives  in  their  hands,  the  two 
doctors  left  the  guide  to  make  his  way  back 
as  best  he  could,  and  faced  the  rising  path  again, 
taking  the  pack-horses  with  them.  Once  the 
whole  party  were  submerged  in  a  snowdrift, 
but  managed  to  get  clear  again ;  and  after  a 
great  struggle  of  nine  hours,  they  passed  the 
Kopdagh,  and  arrived  at  a  place  called  Purneka- 
pan,  where  they  learnt  that  they  were  close  to 


1878.]  A   DESPERATE   JOURNEY.  363 

the  Russian  outposts.  At  the  top  of  the  pass  the 
snow  lay  so  thick  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
telegraph  poles,  the  whole  party  must  have  lost 
their  way  and  perished  ;  but  by  dint  of  following 
the  track  thus  marked  out  they  were  able  to 
advance  as  far  as  Ashkaleh,  where  a  Cossack 
guard  was  stationed.  Hoisting  the  British  flag 
and  also  the  ambulance  flag,  the  intrepid  doctors 
were  escorted  by  the  Cossacks  to  Ilidja,  where 
they  were  well  received  by  the  Russian  general 
Sistovitch  ;  and  after  some  delay,  caused  by  the 
necessity  of  telegraphing  to  the  Grand  Duke 
Michael  for  permission,  they  were  allowed  to 
go  on  to  Erzeroum,  which  they  reached  on 
February  3.  Surely  that  hazardous  relief  march 
of  seven  whole  days,  undertaken  voluntarily,  and 
carried  out  with  unswerving  resolution  in  the  face 
of  every  danger,  should  live  in  the  annals  of  the 
medical  profession  as  an  example  of  the  unflinch- 
ing devotion  of  the  two  brave  men  who  made  it. 

Stoker  and  Stiven  told  me  that  the  news  of 
my  illness  had  been  received  in  Constantinople 
with  great  regret,  and  they  had  orders  if  they 
found  me  alive  on  their  arrival  at  Erzeroum  to 
send  me  down  to  the  capital  at  once  to  recu- 
perate. They  also  brought  me  an  invitation  from 
Vice-Admiral  Sir  Edward  Commerell,  who  was 
stationed  in  the  Gulf  of  Ismet,  to  pay  him  a  visit 
on  board  his  ship  for  the  purpose  of  regaining 
my  health. 


364  THE    SURRENDER   OF    ERZEROUM. 

However,  it  went  against  the  grain  with  me 
to  think  of  leaving  a  sinking  ship  ;  and  at  last 
we  arranged  that  Stiven  should  go  back,  taking 
Captain  Morisot  with  him,  and  that  Stoker  should 
remain  with  Denniston  and  me  to  look  after 
the  hospitals.  So  we  said  good-bye  to  Stiven 
and  Morisot,  and  devoted  ourselves  anew  to  the 
hospital  work.  During  my  illness  the  Stafford 
House  Hospital,  which  had  been  handed  back 
to  the  Turkish  authorities,  had  been  allowed  to 
go  to  the  bad  very  much  ;  but  after  four  or  five 
days'  hard  work  we  soon  had  everything  ship- 
shape again. 

At  this  period  the  sickness  in  the  city  was 
at  its  worst,  and  the  ravages  of  typhus  and 
typhoid  were  fearful.  We  three  English  doctors 
had  our  hands  full,  and  whenever  we  had  an 
hour  to  spare  from  the  military  hospital  our 
time  was  taken  up  in  attending  upon  the  poorer 
Armenians  in  the  city.  We  could  have  earned 
large  fees  if  we  had  chosen  to  attend  the  wealthier 
classes  ;  but  we  thought  it  right  to  devote  all 
our  spare  time  to  the  poor  people,  who  had  no 
one  else  to  look  after  them. 

Among  our  patients  was  the  Catholic  Arme- 
nian archbishop  of  the  place,  a  dear  old  fellow, 
who  was  most  grateful  to  Denniston  and  myself 
for  attending  him.  When  he  recovered  he 
wanted  us  to  take  a  fee,  but  we  declined ;  and 
then  he  insisted  on  presenting  us  with  the  only 


1878.1  AN    ARCHAEOLOGICAL    CURIO.  365 

article  of  value  which  he  possessed.  This  was  a 
bracelet  which  had  been  excavated  from  a  sub- 
terranean village  of  great  antiquity  at  the  foot  of 
Mount  Ararat,  and  consisted  of  a  large  ring  of 
bronze,  ornamented  with  two  serpents'  heads.  It 
was  supposed  to  be  about  two  thousand  three 
hundred  years  old  or  thereabouts.  We  accepted 
this  strange  old  ornament,  which  might  have  been 
fashioned  by  some  cunning  artificer  whose  father 
saw  the  sunlight  flashing  on  the  Athenian  helmets 
at  Marathon  or  watched  the  beak  of  a  Greek 
galley  come  crashing  through  the  Persian  ship  in 
which  he  laboured  at  the  oar  at  Salamis.  The 
serpents  on  the  old  bronze  bracelet  had  slumbered 
on  in  the  subterranean  village  while  centuries  came 
and  went  and  dynasties  flitted  past  like  shadows  ; 
but  at  last  they  were  restored  again  to  the  light 
of  day.  Denniston  and  I  regarded  our  new 
acquisition  with  curiosity  not  unmixed  with  awe. 
Then  in  our  simple,  unpoetical  way  we  decided 
to  toss  up  for  it,  and  the  spin  of  a  Turkish  piastre, 
minted  so  to  speak  but  yesterday,  gave  Denniston 
possession  of  this  souvenir  of  the  times  of  mighty 
Xerxes. 

As  soon  as  it  leaked  out  that  archaeological 
objects  were  regarded  with  interest  by  the 
English  doctors,  an  extraordinary  variety  of 
ancient  curiosities  were  pressed  upon  our  notice ; 
and  owing  to  the  precarious  situation  in  the  town, 
the  owners  were  all  ready  to  sacrifice  their 


366  THE    SURRENDER   OF    ERZEROUM. 

treasures  at  an  alarming  reduction.  There  was 
something  pathetic  in  the  eagerness  of  a  few  of 
these  collectors  to  realize  upon  their  treasures.  I 
was  offered  an  iron  signet  ring  supposed  to  have 
belonged  to  an  exalted  personage  in  the  time 
of  Alexander  the  Great  for  the  price  of  a  few 
doses  of  quinine  ;  and  half  a  bottle  of  brandy 
would  have  purchased  me  a  curious  black  stone 
bearing  an  inscription  that  would  puzzle  the 
antiquity  experts  at  the  British  Museum.  One 
day  an  Armenian  named  Magack,  who  held  an 
official  position  in  the  British  Consulate,  brought 
me  a  gold  coin  stamped  with  a  bull's  head.  He 
explained  to  me  that  it  was  coined  in  the  reign  of 
the  second  Persian  king,  and  that  it  was  worth 
^70  in  London ;  but  the  evidence  on  one  point 
seemed  to  me  as  inconclusive  as  on  the  other,  and 
I  declined  to  purchase  it  at  the  price  of  ^30. 

Although  the  snow  had  begun  to  melt  in  the 
streets,  it  was  still  bitterly  cold,  and  we  knew  that 
the  Russians  were  only  waiting  for  a  regular 
thaw  in  order  to  bring  up  their  artillery.  How- 
ever, we  were  fortunately  not  called  upon  to 
undergo  a  bombardment ;  for  with  the  fall  of  Kars 
and  Plevna  the  war  was  virtually  at  an  end  both 
in  Asia  Minor  and  in  Europe,  and  rumours  of  an 
armistice  were  already  beginning  to  be  put  about. 

At  last  one  day  I  saw  a  couple  of  Russian 
cavalry  officers  in  the  town  ;  and  hurrying  back 
to  my  quarters  as  fast  as  possible,  I  sent  old 


1878.]  ARRIVAL   OF    THE    RUSSIANS.  367 

Tom  Rennison  up  to  headquarters  to  find  out 
what  had  happened.  He  brought  back  news 
that  they  were  two  parlementaires,  who  brought 
telegrams  from  Constantinople  via  St.  Petersburg, 
notifying  the  commander-in-chief  that  the  town 
would  be  occupied  by  Russian  troops  in  accord- 
ance with  the  terms  of  an  armistice. 

When  old  Kurd  Ismail  Pasha  heard  this  news, 
he  wept  tears  of  rage  and  tore  his  beard  in  a 
frenzy  of  grief.  The  troops  also,  in  spite  of  their 
terrible  losses  by  wounds  and  sickness,  were  very 
despondent  at  the  prospect  of  the  town  being 
occupied  by  the  enemy  without  another  blow 
being  struck  in  its  defence.  Lamentations,  how- 
ever, were  useless  ;  and  two  days  later  the  gates 
were  opened,  and  General  Melikoff,  surrounded 
by  his  staff,  rode  into  Erzeroum,  and  took  up 
his  quarters  in  the  town. 

On  the  same  night,  just  as  Denniston,  Stoker, 
and  myself  were  sitting  down  to  a  good  dinner  in 
our  comfortable  quarters,  four  Russian  doctors, 
who  had  come  in  with  Melikoff  called  at  our 
house.  They  belonged  to  the  Russian  Red 
Cross  Society,  and  explained  that  they  did  not 
know  where  to  go  for  the  night ;  so  we  sent  their 
horses  round  to  our  stable,  and  we  invited  them 
to  dine  with  us  and  stay  the  night — an  invitation 
which  they  gladly  accepted.  We  gave  them  a 
capital  dinner,  which  they  enjoyed  very  much  ; 
and  the  only  thing  that  marred  the  complete 


368  THE    SURRENDER   OF    ERZEROUM. 

success  of  the  gathering  was  the  difficulty  under 
which  conversational  intercourse  had  to  be 
carried  on. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  my  deplorable 
deficiencies  in  the  matter  of  conversational  French 
actually  endangered  my  life,  which  I  had  man- 
aged to  preserve  up  till  then,  in  spite  of  shot 
and  shell,  fever  and  frostbite.  Neither  Stoker 
nor  Stiven  had  pursued  his  studies  in  the 
language  of  diplomacy  much  farther  than  the 
irregular  verbs  which  tormented  them  in  their 
fourth-form  days  at  school ;  and  my  own  French, 
painfully  acquired  during  my  early  days  in 
Australia,  and  never  afterwards  improved  by 
practice,  was  distinctly  of  the  Stratford-atte-Bow 
variety.  Consequently  the  natural  embarrassment 
of  finding  conversation  for  the  enemy  within  our 
gates  as  well  as  dinner  was  increased  by  the 
difficulty  which  we  experienced  in  achieving  any 
remark  which  we  considered  it  in  good  taste  to 
utter.  Drifting  naturally  to  professional  subjects, 
I  made  a  reference  to  our  colleagues  Dr.  Casson 
and  Dr.  Buckby,  who  were  captured  by  Cossacks 
on  their  way  from  Kars  to  Erzeroum,  after 
having  been  under  fire  with  Mukhtar  Pasha's 
troops  at  the  fighting  round  Eolia-tepe  and 
Nalban-tepe.  I  wanted  to  say  that  I  had  heard 
that  the  Russians  treated  the  two  doctors  who 
were  taken  prisoners  with  great  kindness,  and 
made  things  as  pleasant  as  possible  for  them. 


1878.]  OUR    RUSSIAN    CONFRERES.  369 

What  I  did  say,  however,  falling  into  the  common 
schoolboy  error  of  attempting  to  render  an  idiom 
in  one  language  by  a  phrase  of  similar  sound  in 
another,  was  this.  "  J'ai  entendu,"  I  remarked, 
with  a  smile  intended  to  convey  grateful  appre- 
ciation of  services  rendered,  but  which  was 
interpreted  as  a  sinister  and  sardonic  grimace 
denoting  a  deliberate  intention  to  insult,  "  que 
vous  avez  fait  beaucoup  de  plaisanteries  pour 
nos  deux  amis."  There  was  an  awkward  pause. 
It  was  just  that  sort  of  pause  which  occurs 
at  a  large  dinner  party  when  you  inquire 
audibly  from  your  neighbour  the  name  of  the 
hideously  ugly  woman  who  is  sitting  opposite, 
and  he  replies  that  it  is  his  wife.  Then  the 
four  Russian  doctors  began  to  jabber  excitedly 
to  each  other,  and  one  of  them,  jumping  to  his 
feet,  hurled  half  a  dozen  rapid  sentences  at  me, 
which  I  dimly  felt  denoted  astonishment,  anger, 
and  a  demand  for  satisfaction.  It  was  very 
clear  that  I  had  put  my  foot  in  it  somehow ; 
but  to  correct  my  mistake  I  strove  in  vain.  The 
more  I  said  the  less  it  pleased  our  guests,  who 
loudly  insisted  upon  a  duel.  This  was  a  pretty 
go.  Morisot,  who  would  have  been  my  best 
friend  in  this  emergency,  was  unfortunately  in 
Constantinople  ;  but  necessity  sharpens  one's  wits 
wonderfully,  and  it  flashed  upon  me  in  a  moment 
that  Magack,  the  owner  of  the  gold  coin  with 
the  bull's  head  that  was  stamped  during  the  reign 

24 


370  THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

of  the  second  Persian  king,  could  speak  French 
admirably.  Accordingly  the  invaluable  numis- 
matist was  summoned  in  hot  haste ;  and  although 
I  am  sure  that  he  never  forgave  me  for  not 
buying  that  bull's  head,  he  condescended  to 
explain  to  our  guests  the  difficulty  in  which  the 
defects  of  my  education  had  landed  me.  The 
Russian  doctors  turned  out  to  be  very  good 
fellows  after  all,  and  when  they  left  us  General 
Melikoff  sent  an  aide  to  thank  us  for  the  hospi- 
tality which  we  had  shown  to  them. 

Captain  Serge  Pizareff  was  the  name  of  the 
aide-de-camp  who  came  to  call  on  us,  and  a 
very  pleasant  young  fellow  he  was.  He  told 
us  that  the  Russians  would  make  a  formal  entry 
into  the  town  next  day ;  and  that  if  we  liked  to 
see  the  spectacle,  he  would  send  us  horses  and 
place  himself  at  our  disposal,  an  offer  which, 
needless  to  say,  we  accepted. 

There  was  one  thing  about  Captain  Serge 
Pizareff  which  struck  me  very  favourably.  He 
had  been  to  England,  and  spoke  English  as 
well  as  most  Englishmen.  I  argued  from  that 
circumstance  that  the  Russian  doctors  must  have 
dropped  a  hint  as  to  our  deficiencies  in  the  matter 
of  French ;  but  I  was  prepared  to  overlook  the 
humiliation  for  the  sake  of  the  convenience. 

We  got  a  capital  view  of  the  spectacle,  thanks 
to  the  kindness  of  Captain  Pizareff;  for  some 
Cossacks  brought  us  horses  in  the  morning,  and 


1878.]  AN    IMPRESSIVE    REVIEW.  37 1 

we  rode  out  to  the  large  open  space  inside  the 
walls  where  the  demonstration  was  to  take  place. 
It  was  a  most  impressive  demonstration.  Out- 
side the  town  a  corps  darm&e  of  sixty  thousand 
Russian  troops,  belonging  to  all  branches  of  the 
service,  was  stationed  in  the  various  villages. 
It  was  not  deemed  advisable  to  bring  them  all 
in  at  once ;  but  detachments  from  every  regiment, 
including  cavalry,  infantry,  and  artillery,  were 
marched  forward  and  brigaded  outside  the  gates. 
Then  at  the  word  of  command,  while  the  bands 
played  the  regimental  quicksteps,  they  came  for- 
ward, with  colours  flying,  and  entered  Erzeroum 
without  striking  a  blow,  across  the  ground  where 
those  same  regiments  had  been  swept  by  the  fire 
from  the  redoubts  along  the  walls  a  couple  of 
months  before,  and  had  been  hurled  back  in 
terrible  disorder. 

General  Melikoff  reviewed  his  troops  in  the 
great  open  space  between  the  town  and  the 
redoubts  which  defended  the  walls.  It  was  a 
crisp,  clear,  exhilarating  day,  and  the  hard, 
smooth  surface  of  the  glistening  snow  was  still 
strong  enough  to  bear  the  troops  without  sinking 
in,  though  here  and  there  an  officer's  horse  would 
put  his  foot  through  the  solid  crust  into  the  soft 
powdery  snow  below  and  flounder  back  again, 
plunging  and  snorting. 

We  three  Englishmen  sat  there  on  the  Cossacks 
shaggy,  hardy  little  horses,  and  watched  with 


372  THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

mingled  feelings  the  triumphant  military  display 
of  the  great  Northern  power  which  was  celebrating 
the  close  of  a  victorious  campaign.  We  guessed 
by  a  kind  of  instinct  that  England  herself  had 
come  within  measurable  distance  of  war  with  the 
same  great  power ;  but  we  scarcely  realized  that 
the  issue  was  still  hanging  in  the  balance,  and  that 
the  steady  hand  of  one  man  held  the  scales  of 
war  and  peace.  The  treaty  of  San  Stefano  had 
just  been  signed.  This  document,  which  the 
Sultan  ratified  on  March  3,  concluded  the  war 
between  Russia  and  Turkey ;  but  the  Ottoman 
Government  had  to  buy  peace  at  a  price.  Not 
only  was  an  indemnity  of  three  hundred  million 
roubles  secured  to  Russia,  but  she  also  took  large 
possessions  in  Asia  Minor  and  enormous  advan- 
tages in  Europe. 

While  we  sat  on  the  horses  of  the  Cossack 
irregulars  listening  to  the  huzzas  of  the  Russian 
troops,  Lord  Beaconsfield,  with  the  provisions  of 
the  treaty  before  him,  was  evolving  the  policy 
of  England.  It  was  not  until  May  15  that  he 
returned  to  London  with  Lord  Salisbury,  after 
the  Berlin  Congress,  bringing  back  "  peace  with 
honour." 

As  we  dangled  our  feet  in  the  big  Cossack 
stirrups  watching  the  Russian  standards  that 
made  shadows  on  the  snow  as  they  waved  lazily 
in  the  breeze,  a  British  squadron  was  steaming 
to  Besika  Bay,  and  the  Government  of  India  was 


1878.]  UNDER   THE    RUSSIAN    EAGLES.  373 

preparing  to  despatch  a  strong  force  of  Indian 
troops  to  Malta.  That  was  because  Russia 
refused  to  submit  the  treaty  of  San  Stefano  to 
the  other  powers  in  accordance  with  the  peremp- 
tory demand  of  Beaconsfield,  and  held  on  her 
course  until  the  determined  attitude  assumed  by 
England  forced  her  to  modify  her  claims  in 
Europe. 

Although  we  did  not  know  all  this  at  that  time, 
yet  we  knew  enough  to  realize  that  possibly  we 
might  see  the  Russian  troops  very  shortly  under 
quite  different  circumstances  ;  and  this  reflection 
lent  piquancy  to  the  situation. 

We  watched  the  Russians  as  they  marched  in 
on  parade  and  formed  up  in  a  great  hollow  square, 
with  General  Melikoff  and  the  headquarters  staff 
sitting  on  their  horses  inside  it,  and  the  imperial 
standards  of  yellow  silk  embroidered  with  the 
black  eagles  flaunting  in  the  air. 

Then  at  a  given  signal  the  massed  bands  of 
all  the  regiments  struck  up  the  Russian  national 
anthem,  and  the  huzzas  of  the  soldiery  were  given 
with  a  goodwill  that  showed  how  welcome  was 
the  close  of  the  campaign.  Our  troubles  had 
been  severe  enough  in  Erzeroum ;  but  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Russian  army  camped  outside  in  the 
snow  transcended  anything  that  we  had  under- 
gone, and  General  Melikoff  told  me  himself  that 
he  had  lost  40  per  cent,  of  his  army  from  typhus 
fever  and  exposure. 


374  THE   SURRENDER   OF   ERZEROUM. 

A  cleric,  or  "  pope,"  as  he  was  called,  who 
accompanied  the  troops  in  the  capacity  of  an 
army  chaplain,  delivered  an  excited  harangue, 
declaring  that  the  Almighty  had  given  the  soldiers 
of  the  cross  the  victory  over  the  infidels ;  and 
then  the  men  were  dismissed  from  parade,  and 
allowed  to  go  where  they  liked.  Several  carts 
full  of  wine  were  brought  in,  and  the  champions 
of  Christendom  embarked  on  a  glorious  carouse. 

All  the  Turkish  troops  who  were  able  to  travel 
had  been  sent  away  to  Erzinghan  or  Baiburt 
in  order  to  make  room  for  the  Russian  army  ; 
but  we  still  had  about  two  thousand  men  in 
hospital,  and  these  it  was  impossible  to  remove, 
so  that  Stoker,  Denniston,  and  myself  had  plenty 
of  work  before  us.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
sickness  among  the  poorer  Armenians  in  the 
town,  and  these  unfortunate  creatures  were  almost 
entirely  dependent  upon  us  for  medical  aid  ;  so 
it  may  readily  be  guessed  that  we  had  our 
hands  full. 

On  the  day  after  the  review  General  Melikoff 
invited  Stoker,  Denniston,  and  myself  to  call  on 
him.  Piloted  by  our  excellent  friend  Captain 
Pizareff",  who  was  the  general's  aide-de-camp, 
we  found  our  way  to  headquarters,  and  were 
introduced  to  the  Russian  field-marshal  in  the 
big  house  which  he  had  selected  for  his  residence. 

General  Melikoff  at  that  time  was  a  man  of 
striking  appearance,  and  looked  every  inch  a 


1878.]  GENERAL    MELIKOFF.  375 

soldier.  His  tall,  well  knit  figure,  his  aquiline 
nose,  and  dark,  flashing  eyes  marked  him  out 
at  once  as  a  military  leader.  He  received  us 
with  the  greatest  courtesy,  and  told  us  that  he 
had  heard  how  hard  we  had  worked,  not  only 
in  aid  of  the  sick  and  wounded  soldiers,  but  also 
in  aid  of  the  poverty-stricken  civil  population 
of  the  town.  He  assured  us  of  his  sympathy, 
and  promised  to  do  everything  in  his  power  to 
help  us,  asking  us  to  make  any  suggestions  with 
regard  to  improvements  that  might  be  desirable 
in  conducting  the  sanitation  of  the  city,  and 
expressing  his  willingness  to  meet  our  views  in 
every  way.  Encouraged  by  the  kindly  and 
considerate  attitude  of  the  general,  I  ventured 
to  approach  him  by  letter  a  few  days  afterwards, 
and  once  again  my  unfortunate  deficiencies  in  the 
matter  of  French  exposed  me  to  treatment  which 
I  shall  never  believe  was  authorized  by  General 
Melikoff. 

Hussein  Effendi,  the  Turkish  principal  medical 
officer,  was  the  original  cause  of  the  trouble ;  for 
he  ordered  the  wounded  to  be  removed  from 
the  English  hospital  and  sent  away  when  they 
were  in  such  a  weak  condition  that  many  of 
them  died  in  consequence  of  this  heartless  treat- 
ment. We  reported  the  matter  to  Hakki  Bey, 
and  Hussein  Effendi  was  at  once  sent  for ;  and 
having  no  satisfactory  explanation  to  give  of 
his  conduct,  was  imprisoned.  At  the  same  time, 


376  THE    SURRENDER   OF   ERZEROUM. 

remembering  General  Melikoffs  injunction  that 
I  should  let  him  know  of  anything  that  re- 
quired seeing  to  in  the  hospitals,  I  wrote  to  him 
explaining  the  circumstances.  The  letter  was 
really  the  joint  production  of  Denniston,  Stoker, 
and  myself.  We  wrote  it  in  the  best  French 
that  we  could  muster ;  and  as  there  was  no 
cream-laid  notepaper  left  in  Erzeroum,  we  were 
obliged  to  use  the  only  kind  of  stationery 
available,  which  happened  to  be  a  bit  of  blue 
foolscap.  We  surveyed  our  joint  production  with 
pardonable  pride,  and  despatched  it  without  delay 
to  General  Melikoff.  When  next  I  saw  the 
unfortunate  letter,  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Russian  consul,  who  had  returned  to  Erzeroum 
with  the  army  of  occupation,  having  left  the  town 
in  the  first  instance  on  the  outbreak  of  hostilities. 
He  was  a  tall  man,  with  a  very  pale  face  and  a 
thick  black  beard.  His  manners  were  in  strik- 
ing contrast  to  those  of  the  Russian  officers 
whom  we  had  met,  for  he  was  an  insolent  fellow, 
who  had  not  wit  enough  to  conceal  the  signs 
that  betokened  an  ignorant  Jack-in-office  un- 
accustomed to  mix  with  men  of  the  world  or  in 
polite  society.  This  individual  came  to  me  next 
day,  holding  in  his  hand  my  letter  to  General 
Melikoff  which  he  flung  in  my  face,  remarking 
at  the  same  time  that  it  was  not  usual  to  write  to 
a  field-marshal  of  the  Russian  army  on  a  dirty 
bit  of  foolscap  and  in  atrociously  bad  French.  I 


1878.]  CHARMING    RUSSIAN    VISITORS.  377 

was  relieved  to  find  from  Captain  Pizaren^  whom 
I  apprised  of  the  circumstance,  that  such  a 
message  was  never  sent  by  General  MelikofF. 
Probably  the  facts  of  the  case  were  that  Melikoff 
handed  the  letter  to  this  uncouth  personage  with 
instructions  to  attend  to  the  matter,  and  that  the 
Jack-in-office,  annoyed  by  the  duty,  vented  his 
spite  upon  the  writer. 

We  became  very  intimate  with  Captain  Pizareff, 
and  also  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  number 
of  Russian  officers,  whom  we  invited  round  to 
our  quarters  in  the  evenings. 

We  found  ourselves  much  sought  after  by  the 
Russian  officers  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  English  Con- 
sulate, where  we  lived,  became  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  a  Russian  club.  It  got  to  be  quite  the 
thing  for  them  to  drop  in  during  the  evening  ; 
and  we  occasionally  gave  little  dinner  parties, 
which  were  much  appreciated.  Our  house,  fur- 
nished as  it  was  with  Mr.  Zohrab's  excellent 
supply  of  provisions,  and  with  his  admirable  and 
carefully  selected  stock  of  wines  and  liquors,  was 
the  only  place  in  Erzeroum  where  a  decent 
dinner  was  obtainable.  An  invitation  to  dine 
with  us  was  very  acceptable,  as  may  be  imagined, 
to  these  young  Russian  aristocrats,  who  had  been 
half  starving  in  the  snow  for  several  months 
past. 

Most  of  those  who  came  to  us  were  friends 
of  Pizareff,  who  practically  lived  at  our  place. 


378  THE    SURRENDER   OF    ERZEROUM. 

He  was  a  fine  type  of  young  fellow,  with  the 
frank  and  dashing  manner  of  the  born  soldier, 
and  with  a  nature  widened  and  improved  by 
travel.  Like  my  other  great  friend,  poor  Czet- 
wertinski,  he  was  a  brilliant  horseman,  and  his 
charger  was  the  envy  of  the  regiment.  This 
horse  was  an  extremely  handsome  white  stallion, 
which,  as  the  advertisements  say,  was  formerly  the 
property  of  a  gentleman,  and  had  been  parted 
with  simply  because  the  owner  had  no  further 
use  for  him.  The  original  owner  happened  to 
be  a  notorious  brigand  in  Daghistan,  who  for  a 
long  time  defied  all  efforts  to  capture  him,  but 
was  taken  at  last  and  summarily  hanged.  Pizareff 
was  offered  enormous  sums  for  this  famous  animal, 
which  added  to  his  undoubted  worth  as  a  charger 
something  of  the  extrinsic  sentimental  value  that 
might  have  attached  to  Dick  Turpin's  Black 
Bess. 

Another  charming  man  who  used  to  come  to 
our  house  was  the  colonel  commanding  the  Oren- 
burg Cossacks.  We  saw  a  great  deal  of  him, 
and  also  of  his  adjutant,  Captain  Anisimof£  who 
spoke  English  like  an  Englishman,  and  looked 
exactly  like  a  British  naval  officer.  They  all 
drank  brandy  at  a  rate  that  threatened  to  deplete 
our  stock  of  this  medical  comfort  in  an  alarming 
manner ;  and  I  remember  that  one  evening  a 
party  of  them  polished  off  three  bottles  between 
them,  which  made  me  open  my  eyes,  especially 


1878.]  I    RECEIVE   A   DECORATION.  379 

as  brandy  was  worth  two  pounds  a  bottle  in 
Erzeroum  at  that  time.  One  of  the  party  was 
a  young  Russian  prince,  whose  name  I  have  for- 
gotten. He  had  never  tasted  brandy  before,  and 
was  so  proud  of  his  achievement  that  he  insisted 
upon  sending  a  telegram  to  his  father  at  St.  Peters- 
burg announcing  that  he  had  been  drinking  eau- 
de-vie  in  Erzeroum  at  the  house  of  three  English 
doctors — a  highly  important  despatch  from  the 
seat  of  war. 

About  this  time  I  received  a  telegram  one  day 
from  Constantinople  informing  me  that  the  Sultan 
had  been  pleased  to  confer  upon  me  the  decora- 
tion of  the  fourth  order  of  the  Medjidie  in 
recognition  of  my  services.  Mere  lad  as  I  was, 
I  felt  very  proud  of  my  decoration,  and  Denniston, 
Stoker,  and  myself  had  a  great  consultation  about 
the  matter.  They  opined  that  there  was  only 
one  course  open  to  me,  and  that  it  was  incumbent 
upon  me  to  give  a  party  in  celebration  of  the 
event.  As  the  guests  would  be  all  Russians,  I 
felt  bound  in  honour  to  do  the  thing  properly, 
and  determined  to  go  outside  Mr.  Zohrab's  cellar 
in  order  to  provide  materials  befitting  the  occasion. 
Mr.  Zohrab  had  forgotten  to  lay  in  a  stock  of 
champagne  before  he  went,  and  it  was  clear  that 
champagne  was  the  only  liquor  which  would  meet 
the  requirements  of  the  case.  Now  I  knew  that 
there  was  no  champagne  in  Erzeroum  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Russians ;  but  I  guessed  that  the 


380  THE    SURRENDER   OF    ERZEROUM. 

sutlers  and  purveyors  who  followed  the  Russian 
army  would  not  have  forgotten  to  bring  the  wine 
which  is  so  much  favoured  in  Russia.  Old  Tom 
Rennison,  a  campaigner  whose  vast  experience 
enabled  him  to  live  in  luxury  in  places  where  a 
goat  would  starve,  thought  that  he  knew  where 
to  get  some  "fizz";  so  I  despatched  him  to 
bring  in  half  a  dozen  bottles  coute  que  coute. 
Still,  it  was  a  bit  staggering  to  find  that,  when 
he  brought  back  the  required  quantity,  he  also 
had  a  little  bill  of  eighteen  pounds  to  render  for 
the  half-dozen  of  Moet  and  Chandon  which  some 
enterprising  purveyor  had  carted  on  a  sledge 
over  the  snow  from  Tiflis,  four  hundred  miles 
away.  About  a  dozen  Russian  officers  came  round 
to  my  party,  and  we  made  a  great  night  of  it. 
Denniston  proposed  my  health  in  English,  and  I 
responded  in  the  same  language.  Then  Pizareff 
proposed  it  in  French,  and  I  made  shift  to  reply 
in  that  tongue.  Some  one  else  made  a  few 
complimentary  remarks  in  German,  and  several 
speeches  were  added  in  Russian.  Before  the 
evening  was  half  over  we  were  paying  the  most 
extravagant  compliments  to  each  other,  and  I 
have  an  indistinct  recollection  of  trying  some- 
where about  midnight  to  teach  a  big,  fair-bearded 
captain  "  Auld  lang  syne,"  and  to  render  "  We 
twa  ha'  paid'lt  i'  the  burn  "  into  my  own  peculiar 
French,  a  task  in  which  I  was  entirely  un- 
successful. 


1878.]  A    SERIES    OF    DINNER    PARTIES.  381 

We  had  quite  a  number  of  little  dinner  parties 
after  this.  One  night  General  Komaroffj  who 
afterwards  commanded  the  Russians  at  the 
famous  fight  which  goes  down  to  history  as  the 
"  Pendjeh  incident,"  invited  us  to  dine  with  him  ; 
and  Stoker  and  I  accepted,  though  Denniston 
was  sick  and  obliged  to  stay  at  home.  The 
general,  who  was  then  a  young  man,  although 
he  wore  a  beard  and  spectacles,  treated  us  very 
hospitably,  and  had  evidently  spared  no  pains  to 
make  the  entertainment  a  success.  A  regimental 
band  stationed  in  the  courtyard  outside  played 
English  airs  as  a  compliment  to  the  visitors ; 
and  the  menu,  which  began  with  a  zacuska  of 
caviare  and  anchovies,  was  a  capital  one.  A 
small  tumbler  of  raw  absinthe  was  poured  out 
for  each  guest  to  begin  with  ;  and  as  they  insisted 
that  I  must  drink  mine  in  spite  of  all  my  protesta- 
tions, I  was  nearly  poisoned.  Later  on  English 
bottled  stout  was  served  round  gravely  in  wine 
glasses.  How  on  earth  it  got  to  Erzeroum  I 
could  not  make  out,  for  the  Russians  do  not 
drink  stout ;  but  it  was  evidently  intended  as 
a  compliment  to  us,  so  I  tossed  mine  down, 
much  wondering. 

Captain  Pizareff,  who  lived  in  General  MelikofFs 
house,  asked  me  to  go  round  and  dine  with  him 
one  night  as  the  general  was  going  out,  and 
with  great  thoughtfulness  my  host  sent  round 
a  Cossack  with  a  spare  horse  for  me.  We  had  a 


382  THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

capital  dinner  ;  but  the  only  thing  to  drink  was 
a  big  stone  bottle  full  of  Benedictine,  which  we 
finished  between  us.  Pizareff  was  equal  to  the 
emergency.  Late  at  night  he  sent  me  back  to 
my  own  quarters  with  my  Cossack  guard  doubled. 
I  had  a  Cossack  riding  on  each  side  of  me  to  hold 
me  on.  They  were  jolly,  good-humoured  fellows, 
clad  in  heavy  sheepskin  overcoats  ;  and  they 
laughed  immoderately  every  time  I  fell  off  my 
horse,  which  occurred  three  times  during  the 
journey  of  about  a  mile.  On  each  of  these 
occasions,  as  I  sat  disconsolately  in  the  frozen 
snow,  a  melancholy  figure  in  a  long  overcoat, 
boots,  and  spurs,  and  a  sword  which  insisted  in 
getting  between  my  legs,  my  Cossacks  replaced 
my  fez  on  my  head,  deftly  disentangled  me  from 
my  sword,  and  hoisted  me  once  more  into  the 
saddle.  In  spite  of  the  terrible  stories  that  one 
hears  about  them  sometimes,  I  shall  always  have 
a  warm  corner  in  my  heart  for  Cossacks. 

Although  we  got  on  capitally  with  the  Russian 
officers,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  army  of  occupa- 
tion behaved  very  badly  to  the  few  unfortunate 
Turkish  soldiers  who  were  left  behind  to  recover 
from  their  wounds  when  the  bulk  of  the  sufferers 
were  sent  away.  Whenever  the  Russian  lines- 
men came  across  these  poor  devils  crawling  about 
the  streets,  they  would  jeer  them  and  mock  them 
first,  and  then  beat  them  cruelly.  I  have  seen 
half  a  dozen  Russians  attack  a  couple  of  wretchedly 


1878.]  A   PERILOUS   ADVENTURE.  383 

weak  and  emaciated  Turks  who  were  painfully 
creeping  along  the  street,  and  kick  them  brutally, 
leaving  them  half  dead  by  the  side  of  the  road. 

Once    Denniston,    Stoker,    and   myself  had   a 
narrow  escape.     We   had   gone   for   a   walk  by 
ourselves  outside  of  the  town  proper  towards  the 
redoubts,  when  we  came  upon  a  party  of  Russian 
infantrymen     who    were     undisguisedly    hostile. 
One  fellow  came  up  to   me,   said   something   in 
Russian,  and  then  hit  me  a  crack  over  the  head 
which  annoyed  me  so  much  that  I  went  for  him 
with  my  fists.     Denniston  and  Stoker  sailed  in  at 
the  others ;  but  the  soldiers  had  their  side  arms 
with  them,  and  it  would  have  fared  badly  with 
us  but  for  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  Russian 
captain,  who  saw  the  affair,  and  came  running  to 
our   assistance,  revolver   in  hand.     He   knocked 
down  my  assailant  with  the  pistol-butt  for  a  start, 
and  discharged  such  a  volley  of  remarks  at  the 
others  that  they  slunk  off  like  beaten  curs.     We 
were  grateful  for  his  timely  intervention,  without 
which  we  would  probably  have  been  killed  out- 
right ;  and  we  paid  due  attention  to  his  warning 
that  it   was   dangerous   to   come  unprotected  so 
far  from  the  town. 

The  comfort  in  which  we  lived  at  the  con- 
sulate had  not  escaped  the  envy  of  some  of  the 
Russians,  and  one  man  in  particular  was  con- 
sumed with  jealousy  when  he  saw  the  fine 
house  in  which  we  were  quartered.  This  was 


384  THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

General  Heymann,  who  commanded  the  Russian 
column  of  assault  at  Devoi  Boyun,  and  showed 
conspicuous  bravery  during  the  engagement.  In 
fact,  he  was  generally  spoken  of  afterwards  as 
the  hero  of  Devoi  Boyun.  It  seemed  that  about 
twenty  years  before  the  war  he  had  been  in 
Erzeroum,  and  had  occupied  the  house,  which 
was  afterwards  turned  into  the  English  Consulate. 
During  the  long  months  of  discomfort  while 
the  army  was  encamped  in  the  stinking  little 
villages  outside  Erzeroum,  General  Heymann 
had  buoyed  himself  up  with  the  hope  that  as 
soon  as  the  inevitable  occupation  arrived  he 
would  go  back  to  his  old  quarters  again  ;  and 
when  at  last  he  got  into  the  town,  he  was  dis- 
gusted to  find  the  house  upon  which  he  had 
set  his  heart  in  the  occupation  of  some  English 
doctors.  His  first  move  was  to  send  an  aide- 
de-camp  to  us  with  a  request  that  we  would 
vacate  the  house,  which  we  at  once  declined 
to  do.  Then  the  trouble  began.  Although 
the  fascinating  pursuit  of  "draw  poker"  is  not 
practised  to  any  great  extent  in  Russia,  still  that 
aide-de-camp  was  fully  conversant  with  one  of 
its  leading  features,  and  he  set  himself  to  play 
the  game  of  bluff  with  great  vigour.  He  began 
to  bluster  in  great  style,  hoping  that  I  would 
throw  up  my  hand  at  once ;  but  I  went  one 
better  every  time.  At  last  he  remarked  that 
might  was  right,  that  the  Russians  were  an 


1878.]  GENERAL    HEYMANN.  385 

army  of  occupation,  and  that   if  we  did  not  go 
out  of  our  house  we  would  be  turned  out.      I 
said  that  we  certainly  would  not  go  unless  turned 
out    by   force,    and   that   as    the    Russian  troops 
occupied  the  town  under  the  terms  of  an  armistice, 
and  not  as  a  consequence  of  a  successful  assault, 
they   could   not   disturb    us    in   our  quarters.      I 
closed   the  conversation   by  saying  that    if  they 
turned    Denniston,    Stoker,    and    myself    out    of 
our   house,   I    would   telegraph    to    Lord    Derby 
requesting   him    to  make   representations   at  St. 
Petersburg  on  the   subject.     Then  I  bowed  out 
General    Heymann's  aide-de-camp.       Next    day, 
however,    a    communication    arrived    from    the 
konak  announcing  that  the  general  insisted  that 
we   should   be    turned   out,    and    that   the    civil 
authorities    of  the   town    would   be   glad    if    we 
would  leave  quietly.     This  was  rather  too  much, 
and   I   went  up  to  the  konak  next  day,   taking 
Tom  Rennison  as  an  interpreter.     I  was  shown 
into  a  room  where  Hakki  Bey,  the  civil  governor, 
and  a  number  of  Turkish  and  Armenian  officials 
were  discussing  the  situation.     Here  I  stood  up 
and  made  a  speech,  which  was  interpreted  as  I 
went  along  by  Tom  Rennison.     I  told  them  that 
we  had  come  out  there  to   help  their  sick  and 
wounded,    that  two  of  our    number  had  already 
died  in  their  cause,  and  that  the  rest  of  us  had 
risked  our  lives  for  them   over  and  over   again. 
We  have  done  all  this  for  you,"  I  said ;  "  we 

25 


386  THE    SURRENDER    OF    ERZEROUM. 

have  cared  for  your  wounded,  and  eased  their 
sufferings  ;  we  have  tended  your  sick,  and  sent 
them  food  and  wine  from  our  own  table ;  and 
now,  you  ungrateful  beggars,  you  want  to  turn  us 
out  of  our  own  house.  Well,  we  won't  go."  They 
listened  very  courteously  to  my  exordium,  which 
was  translated  into  Turkish  by  the  faithful 
Rennison ;  and  when  it  was  finished,  I  could 
see  that  I  had  made  an  impression.  Our  evic- 
tion was  no  longer  insisted  upon,  and  General 
Heymann  had  to  content  himself  with  a  large 
house  immediately  opposite  our  quarters. 

Some  little  time  after  this  the  French  consul, 
M.  Jardin,  approached  us,  and  used  his  influence 
with  us,  asking  us  if  possible  to  humour  the 
old  general  by  granting  his  wish.  Finally  we 
agreed  to  do  so,  and  I  wrote  a  letter  to  General 
Heymann,  saying  that  as  a  personal  compliment 
to  his  excellency  we  would  give  him  up  the  house. 
At  the  same  time  I  warned  him  that  there  would 
be  a  risk  attached  to  his  occupancy,  as  we  had 
had  several  cases  of  typhus  in  the  house.  He 
came  over  the  same  afternoon  in  great  glee, 
bringing  his  dragoman  with  him  to  thank  us, 
as  he  himself  spoke  nothing  but  Russian.  He 
said  that,  being  an  old  campaigner,  he  had  no 
fear  of  typhus  ;  and  he  marked  his  appreciation 
of  the  favour  shown  to  him  by  presenting  us 
with  a  box  of  four  hundred  cigars,  which  were 
most  acceptable.  Next  day  he  sent  us  twenty 


i878.]  DEATH    OF    GENERAL    HEYMANN.  387 

soldiers  to  remove  our  baggage  to  the  house 
which  he  was  giving  up  ;  and  when  the  moving 
was  accomplished  he  entered  into  possession  of 
the  consulate.  He  went  to  bed  feeling  poorly 
on  the  very  day  that  he  got  into  his  new  quarters, 
and  four  days  afterwards  he  was  dead  of  typhus. 
Denniston,  Stoker,  and  I  all  attended  the  poor 
old  fellow's  funeral,  wondering  at  the  strange 
fate  that  had  allowed  him  to  live  through  many 
a  hard-fought  fight  only  to  let  him  die  in  his  bed 
when  the  campaign  was  over. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE    END    OF    THE   WAR. 

Helping  Sick  Russians — A  Squalid  Scene — Work  of  the  Russian 
Doctors— Melikoff's  Appreciation — Arrival  of  the  Red  Cross 
Staff— A  Novel  Candlestick— Great  Explosion— The  Erzeroum 
Fire  Brigade — Preparations  for  our  Departure — A  Practical 
Joke  on  a  Persian — A  Pleasant  Interlude — The  Princess 
at  Erzeroum — Mr.  Zohrab's  Library  comes  in  Useful — Our 
Spanish  Widow — Riding  on  a  Pack-saddle — A  Slow  March — 
The  Widow  meets  with  Accidents — Restricted  Sleeping 
Accommodation — We  turn  Two  Corpses  out  of  Bed — End 
of  a  Pack-horse — My  Cats  from  Van — The  Valley  of  Pear 
Trees — Trebizond  at  last. 

WHILE  the  Turks  and  Armenians  in  Erzeroum 
were  dying  by  hundreds  from  typhus,  the  Russian 
soldiers  also  suffered  severely  ;  and  as  I  went 
round  the  town,  I  found  many  of  them  lying  sick 
and  untended,  not  from  any  want  of  care  on  the 
part  of  the  Russian  doctors,  but  simply  because 
the  soldiers  stole  away  and  hid  themselves  when 
they  fell  ill. 

Captain  Pizareff  would  not  believe  it  when  I 
told  him  that  his  men  were  dying  like  sheep,  and 
declared  that  it  was  impossible  for  such  a  thing 
to  happen  without  the  knowledge  of  the  colonel 
of  the  regiment.  In  order  to  convince  the  aide- 

388 


1878.]  A    SQUALID    SCENE.  389 

de-camp,  I    asked  him   to   go   with  me  and  see 
the  state  of  things  with  his  own  eyes. 

Next  morning  I  started  out  early  to  visit  a 
poor  Armenian  woman  whose  child  had  been 
accidentally  scalded,  and  I  took  Captain  Pizareff 
with  me.  The  woman  lived  in  a  miserable 
quarter  of  the  town,  inhabited  only  by  the  poorest 
people  ;  and  evidences  of  distress  and  semi-star- 
vation were  present  on  every  hand.  I  found 
my  patient  easily  enough ;  and  after  dressing 
the  injuries  of  the  scalded  child,  I  took  Pizareff 
on  a  tour  of  inspection  down  the  street.  The 
snow  was  piled  high  round  the  walls  of  the 
first  dilapidated,  tumble-down  shanty  that  we 
entered  ;  and  at  first,  as  we  went  inside  out  of  the 
strong  glare  of  the  sun  on  the  snow,  we  could 
hardly  see  at  all.  A  small  latticed  window  near 
the  roof  admitted  a  few  gleams  of  light ;  and  as 
our  eyes  became  accustomed  to  the  semi-obscurity, 
we  could  make  out  three  Russians  lying  on  a 
heap  of  straw  in  a  corner  of  the  room.  They 
were  all  down  with  typhus.  One  was  lying  on 
his  back,  with  his  eyes  wide  open,  staring  at  the 
ceiling.  As  we  entered  he  looked  at  us,  and 
seemed  to  recognize  Pizareff.  He  made  a  feeble 
effort  to  rise  from  the  straw  and  lift  his  hand  in 
the  military  salute  ;  but  the  strain  was  too  much 
for  him,  and  he  fell  back  exhausted.  The  other 
two  men  were  moaning  and  tossing  from  side 
to  side,  calling  at  intervals  for  water.  An 


39O  THE    END    OF    THE   WAR. 

Armenian  child  about  seven  years  old  was 
playing  with  a  dog  in  the  snow  which  lay  thickly 
in  the  yard  at  the  back  of  the  house.  While  I 
was  looking  at  the  men,  the  child  came  to  the 
door,  peered  curiously  in,  and  then  returned  un- 
concernedly to  his  game  in  the  yard.  The  sight 
of  sickness  and  death  was  not  sufficiently  novel 
to  disturb  the  amusement  of  the  moment. 

In  several  other  houses  in  the  same  street 
similar  scenes  were  met  with ;  and  in  one  an 
Armenian  family  consisting  of  a  father,  mother, 
and  three  children  were  unconcernedly  eating 
their  dinner — a  bowl  of  grain  boiled  into  a  kind 
of  sticky  porridge — while  the  corpse  of  a  Russian 
soldier  who  had  just  died  lay  on  the  floor  in  the 
next  room. 

Captain  Pizareff  was  petrified  with  astonish- 
ment, and  reported  the  circumstances  to  General 
MelikofF  at  once.  I  sent  word  to  the  Russian 
Red  Cross  doctors,  and  they  despatched  a  party 
of  ambulance  men  to  collect  their  sick  and  bring 
them  into  the  hospitals.  How  it  was  possible 
for  the  absence  of  the  men  from  roll  call  to 
remain  unnoticed  I  cannot  understand ;  but  I 
heard  afterwards  that  the  colonel  of  the  regiment 
to  which  these  unfortunates  belonged  got  into 
serious  trouble  over  it. 

Denniston,  Stoker,  and  myself  found  plenty  of 
work  to  do  among  the  Russian  sick  as  well  as 
among  our  own  men,  and  were  glad  to  lend  the 


1878.]  MELIKOFF'S  APPRECIATION.  391 

Russian  doctors  our  assistance.  We  found  our 
Russian  confreres  capital  fellows,  and  also  excel- 
lent surgeons.  They  had  worked  on  bravely 
while  their  army  was  outside  Erzeroum  and 
afterwards  at  Kars,  though  their  resources  were 
severely  taxed  by  the  number  of  the  wounded  at 
Devoi  Boyun,  as  well  as  by  the  fevers  and  frost- 
bite that  decimated  the  troops  during  the  long 
intervals  between  the  different  engagements. 

They  spoke  of  General  Melikoff  in  terms  of 
the  highest  admiration,  praising  his  administrative 
ability  as  well  as  his  military  capacity  ;  and  I  felt 
that  their  opinions  were  well  founded,  when  I 
reflected  upon  the  difficulties  under  which  he  had 
laboured,  especially  in  the  transport  and  com- 
missariat department.  On  one  occasion  General 
Melikoff  said  to  me  himself,  "  I  am  prouder  of 
having  been  able  to  feed  my  army  than  I  am 
of  any  of  my  victories."  When  it  is  remembered 
that  everything  in  the  shape  of  supplies,  including 
provisions  and  medical  stores,  had  to  be  brought 
over  the  snow  from  Tiflis,  four  hundred  miles 
away,  it  will  be  conceded  that  the  general's 
pride  in  his  achievement  was  justified.  General 
Melikoff  was  most  appreciative  of  our  medical 
services  on  behalf  of  his  troops,  and  told  us  on 
one  occasion  that  he  would  recommend  us  for 
decorations  at  the  hands  of  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment. However,  during  the  anxious  political 
times  which  ensued  the  Russian  Government  had 


392  THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

something  else  to  think  about  besides  the  services 
of  three  unknown  English  doctors  in  far  away 
Erzeroum,  and  the  decorations  never  came. 

Gladly  and  willingly  as  I  gave  my  services  in 
the  cause  of  humanity,  it  was  nevertheless  a  real 
pleasure  to  find  that  they  were  appreciated  by  the 
Russian  troops  as  well  as  by  the  Stafford  House 
Committee,  and  also  the  Turkish  Government. 
Captain  Morisot,  who  returned  to  Erzeroum  from 
Constantinople,  brought  me  up,  not  only  fresh 
supplies  of  money,  but  also  the  news  that  the 
Stafford  House  Committee  had  passed  a  special 
vote  of  thanks  to  myself  and  the  other  doctors 
of  the  Erzeroum  section.  The  document  setting 
forth  this  vote  of  thanks,  signed  by  the  Duke 
of  Sutherland  as  chairman  of  the  committee,  is 
couched  in  most  complimentary  terms ;  and,  need- 
less to  say,  it  forms  one  of  my  most  cherished 
mementoes  of  the  war.  Similar  special  votes  of 
thanks  were  accorded  to  Dr.  Stiven  and  Dr. 
Beresford  for  their  great  bravery  during  the 
fighting  at  Rustchuk.  I  had  already  received 
the  fourth  order  of  the  Medjidie,  and  to  this 
the  Turkish  Government  were  afterwards  pleased 
to  add  the  fourth  order  of  the  Osmanli  and  also 
the  Turkish  war  medal. 

We  were  reinforced  during  March  by  the  arrival 
of  Dr.  Roy  and  a  party  of  doctors  sent  out  by 
the  Red  Cross  Society.  They  had  undergone  a 
good  deal  of  hardship  since  they  left  Constan- 


1878.]  A    NOVEL    CANDLESTICK.  393 

tinople,  and  one  of  their  number,  a  Dane  named 
Price,  had  died.  I  shall  always  remember  Roy 
through  a  remarkable  incident  of  which  I  was 
informed  by  him  some  time  after  I  had  left 
Erzeroum.  In  my  quarters  I  was  accustomed 
to  sleep  on  the  floor  on  a  mat,  and  even  in  a 
besieged  town  I  had  kept  up  the  early  habit  of 
reading  in  bed.  The  usual  military  candlestick 
was  a  bayonet,  which  was  stuck  in  the  floor,  with 
the  candle  jammed  into  the  socket ;  but  I  found 
a  more  convenient  receptacle  in  a  Turkish  conical 
shell,  which  I  had  picked  up  somewhere,  and  which 
made  a  capital  candlestick  when  the  brass  cap  at 
the  end  was  unscrewed.  Into  the  orifice  of  the 
shell  I  stuck  my  candle  every  night,  and  read 
Vanity  Fair — which  I  got  out  of  Mr.  Zohrab's 
capital  library — for  the  first  time.  I  never  can 
think  of  Becky  Sharp  to  this  day  without  a 
shudder,  not  on  account  of  her  treatment  of 
Rawdon  Crawley  or  her  dubious  relationship 
with  the  Marquis  of  Steyne,  but  simply  owing 
to  the  circumstances  under  which  I  first  met  her. 
She  was  certainly  a  risky  acquaintance  for  me. 
A  week  or  two  after  I  left  Erzeroum  my  candle- 
stick fell  into  other  hands,  and  one  night  it 
exploded,  fortunately  in  an  empty  room,  which 
it  wrecked  without  damaging  any  one  in  the 
house.  My  first  introduction  to  Becky  Sharp 
was  effected  by  the  light  of  a  candle  stuck  in 
the  mouth  of  a  live  shell ! 


394  THE  END  OF  THE  WAR. 

Powder  was  unnecessarily  burnt  more  than 
once  during  our  last  month  in  Erzeroum.  One 
night  I  was  awakened  by  a  terrific  explosion, 
and  almost  before  I  could  collect  my  senses 
a  frantic  knocking  at  the  door  showed  that 
somebody  wanted  the  doctor  in  a  hurry.  We 
all  jumped  into  our  clothes,  and  followed  the 
guide  to  a  place  where  an  Armenian  house  had 
stood  a  few  minutes  before,  but  which  when 
we  reached  the  spot  was  a  mere  heap  of  wreck- 
age. One  of  the  few  survivors  explained  what 
had  happened.  He  told  us  that  a  lot  of 
Armenians  had  got  hold  of  some  Turkish  cart- 
ridges, and  were  endeavouring  to  convert  the 
powder  to  their  own  use.  Sixteen  men  were 
sitting  in  a  circle  on  their  haunches  in  the 
middle  of  a  big  room,  busily  pulling  the  bullets 
out  of  the  cartridges  and  emptying  the  powder 
into  a  heap,  which  was  gradually  increasing  in 
size  in  the  centre,  when  the  desire  for  a  cigarette 
came  upon  one  of  them,  and  he  struck  a  match. 
The  next  instant  the  house  was  in  the  air,  and 
ten  of  the  Armenians  were  in  paradise — or 
somewhere  else.  There  was  a  good  deal  of 
confusion  in  the  darkness ;  but  I  recollect  finding 
myself  down  on  my  knees  in  a  stable  at  the 
back  of  the  house  examining  two  of  the  sufferers 
who  were  still  alive.  One  of  them  lay  between 
the  legs  of  a  cow,  and  while  he  was  in  that 
position  I  dressed  his  injuries.  The  crowd  had 


1878.]  A    FIRE.  395 

been   very  troublesome,  and    I    had   locked    the 
door  of  the  stable  on  the  inside  to  keep  them 
away,  when  I    heard   a   tremendous   hammering 
and  some  one  demanding  admittance.     I   called 
out   that   there  was  strictly  no  admittance ;   but 
in   a   very  few  minutes   a   file   of  soldiers  burst 
the  door  in,  and  General  Duhoffskoy,  very  angry 
at  being  kept  out  in  the  cold,  stood  before  me. 
He   was   good  enough   to   accept   my  apologies 
when  I  explained  why  I    had   locked   the  door, 
and  also  to  thank  me  for  attending  to  the  sufferers. 
General  Duhoffskoy  was  appointed  to   act   as  a 
kind  of  chief  commissioner  of  police  at  Erzeroum 
in  addition  to  his  military  duties,  and  whenever 
there  was  any  excitement    in  the  town  he  was 
always  on  the  spot.     One  night  we  had  a  very 
big  fire ;  in  fact,  half  the   street   seemed   to    be 
burning.     There  was  plenty  of  water,  however ; 
and    if   it   had    not    been    for   the   crowd,    there 
would  have  been   no   difficulty  in  extinguishing 
the   flames.     An   Armenian   crowd   at   a   fire    is 
very  much  like  any  other  crowd,  and  the  people 
indulged   in    sudden    stampedes   and  all  sorts  of 
" alarums  and  excursions"  to  such  a  degree  that 
the    work    of    the   soldier   firemen    was    greatly 
hindered.     General  Duhoffskoy  took  in  the  situa- 
tion  at  a   glance,   and   at  once    announced    that 
if  the  crowd  did  not  disperse  it  would  be  blown 
to  pieces,    as   one   of  the    burning   houses   con- 
tained an  enormous  quantity  of  powder  and  other 


396  THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

explosives.  The  effect  was  instantaneous,  and 
the  miscellaneous  mass  of  Turks  and  Armenians 
melted  away  as  if  by  magic. 

Soon  after  the  return  of  Captain  Morisot,  I 
received  a  telegram  from  the  Stafford  House 
Committee  saying  that  we  had  done  enough 
for  honour  and  glory,  and  that  we  had  better 
go  back  to  Constantinople,  as  the  Turkish  ad- 
ministration was  able  to  cope  with  all  the  hospital 
work  that  remained  to  be  done  in  Erzeroum. 
I  was  instructed  to  place  the  balance  of  our 
medical  stores  at  the  disposal  of  the  Turks 
before  leaving,  and  accordingly  I  handed  every- 
thing over  to  Hakki  Bey,  receiving  a  receipt, 
and  also  a  grateful  acknowledgment  of  our 
services  to  the  Turkish  troops,  together  with  a 
special  letter  for  presentation  to  the  Seraskierat. 

My  last  week  in  Erzeroum  was  a  busy  one, 
as  we  had  to  make  extensive  preparations  for 
the  journey  to  Trebizond,  which  was  quite  a 
formidable  undertaking.  I  had  collected  a  great 
deal  of  personal  baggage  during  my  travels,  and 
our  equipment  was  considerable ;  so  I  arranged 
with  a  Persian  caravan  which  was  going  down 
to  Trebizond  for  the  conveyance  of  the  heaviest 
of  our  impedimenta,  retaining  only  my  valuables 
and  the  curios  which  I  had  got  together  to 
take  down  under  my  own  supervision  with  the 
caravan.  There  were  many  Persians  in  Erzeroum, 
and  as  a  rule  they  got  on  very  well  with  the 


1878.]  A    PRACTICAL    JOKE.  397 

Turks,  though  occasionally  racial   antipathy  was 
responsible  for  those  minor   persecutions  known 
as    practical    jokes,    of    which    the    Turks    were 
very    fond.       One    day    in     the    hammam,    or 
Turkish  bath,    I    met  an   old  Persian,  who   was 
in  a  deplorable  state  of  grief  in  consequence  of 
the  treatment  which  he  had  received  from  two 
young  Turks.     The  Persians  all  grew  very  long 
beards,  of  which   they   were   inordinately  proud, 
and  they  were  accustomed,  after  coming  out  of 
the  bath,  to  dye  them  a  fine  rich  brickdust  colour 
with   henna.     One  never  saw  a  Persian  with  a 
white   beard.     Now   this   particular   old    Persian 
had  carefully  rubbed   his   beard  with  henna,    in 
blissful    ignorance    of    the   fact    that    two    mis- 
chievous young  Turks  had  been  to  his  henna-pot 
and  had  mixed  a  quantity  of  corrosive  acid  with 
the  dye.     The    consequence  was   that  when  the 
Persian  applied  the  dye  the  beard  came  away  in 
pieces,  and  left  the  poor  man  beardless  in  his  old 
age  and  disgraced. 

On  the  day  before  we  left  Erzeroum  I  called 
on  General  Duhoffskoy,  as  the  military  governor 
of  the  town,  in  order  to  obtain  from  him  a  pass 
through  the  Russian  lines  and  the  necessary 
papers  authorizing  my  departure.  The  general 
was  a  distinguished-looking  man  of  about  forty 
years  of  age,  and  he  received  me  very  courteously, 
expressing  polite  regret  at  my  departure,  and 
promising  to  facilitate  my  journey  as  far  as 


THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

possible.  It  struck  me  that  I  had  never  seen  him 
in  such  good  spirits  before,  and  that  there  was  a 
beam  of  sunshiny  contentment  in  his  face,  which 
was  an  agreeable  change  from  the  rigid  military 
look  of  his  usually  stern  features.  As  I  was 
inwardly  wondering  what  could  have  happened 
to  effect  this  change,  the  door  opened,  and  a 
lady  entered  the  room.  "  Permit  me  to  present 
you  to  my  wife,  Dr.  Ryan,"  said  the  general ; 
and  turning  I  bowed,  there  in  remote,  snow- 
clad,  devastated  Erzeroum,  to  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  women  I  have  ever  seen. 

Princess  Duhoffskoy,  n£e  Princess  Galitzin,  was 
then  about  twenty  years  of  age,  and  to  my  youth- 
ful imagination,  with  her  beautifully  chiselled 
features,  complexion  of  exquisite  fairness,  and 
large  blue  eyes  that  looked  me  frankly  in  the 
face,  she  seemed  like  a  visitant  from  another 
world.  For  a  year  and  a  half  almost  the  only 
specimens  of  womanhood  that  I  had  seen  were 
squat  and  swarthy  Bulgarian  girls,  frowsy 
Armenians,  or  Turkish  women  closely  veiled  in 
their  yashmaks.  It  was  no  wonder  that  this 
lovely  Russian,  with  her  delicate,  refined  beauty 
and  her  frank  and  gracious  manner,  made  a  pro- 
found impression  upon  me,  and  set  my  heart 
beating  quickly  with  mingled  surprise  and  delight. 

The  general  returned  to  his  writing-table,  and 
I  was  left  to  talk  to  this  beauteous  vision  alone. 
I  stammered  a  few  remarks  in  execrable  German  ; 


1878.]  A    RUSSIAN    PRINCESS.  399 

for  though  I  spoke  that  language  fairly  fluently 
on  ordinary  occasions,  my  sensations  drove  my 
vocabulary  out  of  my  head,  and  I  felt  that  for  one 
in  my  position  at  any  rate  the  resources  of  that 
grave  and  elephantine  tongue  were  exasperatingly 
inadequate. 

"  Oh,  Doctor  Ryan,  would  you  not  prefer  to 
speak  English  ?  "  said  the  Princess,  to  my  intense 
astonishment,  without  the  least  trace  of  a  foreign 
accent.  Like  many  cultured  Russians,  she  had 
learnt  to  speak  English  as  well  as  French  and 
German  when  a  child  ;  and  she  soon  showed  me 
that  she  could  not  only  talk,  but  talk  interestingly, 
in  my  own  language.  In  her  lips  the  Doric 
harshness  of  sound  in  spoken  English  disappeared, 
and  the  well  known  words  took  on  something  of 
the  smooth,  musical  cadence  of  the  softer  Italian. 
She  told  me  that  she  had  only  reached  Erzeroum 
on  the  previous  day,  after  travelling  four  hundred 
miles  across  the  snow  from  Tiflis  to  join  her 
husband,  and  she  chatted  away  pleasantly  of  the 
incidents  which  occurred  on  the  way  as  if  there 
was  nothing  unusual  in  a  delicately  nurtured  lady 
going  through  the  hardships  necessitated  by 
such  a  journey  in  a  sleigh.  She  expressed  great 
interest  in  my  work  among  the  wounded,  and 
listened  attentively  while  I  spoke  of  the  bravery 
of  the  Turkish  troops  and  their  fortitude  under 
pain.  When  I  told  her  of  an  Anatolian  Turk 
who  died  in  my  hospital  at  Plevna  with  his  wife's 


4OO  THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

name  on  his  lips,  the  beautiful  eyes  of  this  Russian 
princess  filled  with  tears.  "  Poor  fellow,"  she 
whispered  softly;  "  I  hope  it  is  not  wrong  for  us 
to  pity  the  sufferings  of  the  enemy." 

Coffee  was    brought    in,    and    I    sat  there    for 
about  two  hours  chatting  with  the  princess,  while 
the    general    continued    writing     at     his     table. 
Every  now  and  then  he  looked  up  with  a  glance 
which  seemed  to  say,  "Not  gone  yet  ?     I  wonder 
how  much    longer   this   confounded    Englishman 
is   going    to  stay."     At   last   I    managed  to  tear 
myself  away,  and  I  said  good-bye  to  this  beauti- 
ful Russian  lady,  with  many  regrets   that  I   had 
to  leave  Erzeroum  next  day.      I  never  saw  her 
again ;  but  when  I  got  back  to  the  consulate,   I 
selected  about  fifty  standard  English  books  from 
Mr.  Zohrab's  excellent  library,  packed  them   on 
a  little  sleigh,  and  despatched  them  to  Princess 
Duhoffskoy  with   my  card,  presenting   my  com- 
pliments, and  hoping  that  the  books  would  lessen 
the    tedium   of    her   stay   in   such   a   dull   place 
as  Erzeroum.     General    Duhoffskoy  is    now   the 
governor   of    a   province    in    Siberia,    where   he 
resides   with   his   beautiful   wife,   whose   visit    to 
Erzeroum  was    the   one  gleam  of  real  sunshine 
that  I  had  seen  throughout  that  terrible  winter. 
Before   we    started    for    Trebizond,    a    slight 
difference  of  opinion  arose  between  myself  and 
my   comrades,     Denniston   and    Stoker,    upon   a 
matter   affecting   our  joint    interest.     It   did  not 


1878.]  OUR    SPANISH    WIDOW.  40 1 

in  the  least  disturb  the  friendly  relations  existing 
between  us,  and  I  only  mention  the  matter  now 
because  it  was  all  my  fault  that  my  companions 
were  induced  to  assent  to  incurring  the  responsi- 
bility and  inconvenience  of  escorting  another 
traveller  to  Trebizond — and  that  traveller  a 
lady. 

M.  Jardin,  the  French  consul,  was  a  true 
Frenchman  of  the  best  type,  agreeable,  polite, 
and  above  all  things  always  anxious  to  oblige 
a  lady.  Accordingly,  when  he  came  to  me  with 
a  pathetic  appeal  on  behalf  of  a  charming  Spanish 
widow,  whose  husband  had  been  an  apothecary 
attached  to  the  medical  staff,  I  found  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  him.  He 
explained  to  me  that  the  beautiful  Spaniard 
was  most  anxious  to  get  to  Constantinople,  where 
she  had  friends  who  would  arrange  for  her 
passage  back  to  her  own  country,  and  that  he 
would  take  it  as  a  personal  favour  to  him  if  we 
would  allow  the  lady  to  join  our  party. 

I  foresaw  the  inconvenience  of  taking  a  lady 
on  an  extremely  rough  journey,  which  had  to  be 
accomplished  entirely  on  horseback,  over  mountain 
tracks  and  passes 'deep  in  snow  ;  so  at  first  I  gave 
a  polite  refusal  to  the  French  consul's  request. 
But  M.  Jardin  would  not  be  denied.  He  mini- 
mized the  difficulties  of  the  journey,  which 
he  assured  us  would  be  nothing  to  such  cour- 
ageous and  experienced  men  as  ourselves.  He 

26 


4O2  THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

extolled  us  for  the  services  which  we  had  already 
rendered  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  and  he  urged 
us  not  to  decline  at  the  last  moment  to  still 
further  add  to  our  laurels  in  this  direction. 
Finally  he  dwelt  at  great  length  upon  the  grace 
and  beauty  of  this  dark-eyed  Spanish  lady,  whom 
none  of  us  had  ever  seen,  and  he  painted  the 
despair  with  which  she  looked  forward  to  the 
prospect  of  remaining  widowed  and  alone  in 
Erzeroum,  perhaps  to  die,  far  from  her  country 
and  from  her  own  people.  What  could  I  say 
in  answer  to  such  an  appeal  ?  What  could  I 
do  ?  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  submit 
with  some  misgiving  to  the  inevitable ;  and 
accordingly  I  informed  M.  Jardin  that  I  would 
withdraw  my  own  objections,  and  would  consent 
to  the  arrangement  if  he  could  prevail  upon 
Denniston  and  Stoker  to  agree  also. 

If  M.  Jardin  had  not  been  an  exceedingly 
decorous  as  well  as  polite  Frenchman,  I  feel  sure 
he  would  have  jumped  with  joy  when  I  capitu- 
lated, and  he  went  off  forthwith  to  interview 
Denniston  and  Stoker.  What  occurred  at  that 
interview  I  cannot  precisely  say,  because  both 
my  comrades  were  strangely  reticent  upon  the 
subject.  I  conjecture,  however,  that  M.  Jardin 
praised  their  courage  and  their  chivalry  in  a 
truly  generous  spirit,  and  I  am  convinced  that 
he  dwelt  with  all  his  astonishing  eloquence  upon 
the  grace  and  loveliness  of  this  poor  Spanish 


1878.]  RIDING    ON    A    PACK-SADDLE.  403 

beauty  in  distress.     At  any  rate,  Denniston  and 
Stoker  agreed  to  let  her  travel  with  us. 

Just  before  we  started,  and  when  the  pack- 
horses  upon  which  we  were  to  ride  to  Erzeroum 
were  at  the  door,  M.  Jardin  brought  up  his 
beautiful  Spaniard  and  introduced  her  to  us. 
I  hope  I  shall  not  be  considered  impolite  when 
I  confess  that  our  jaws  all  dropped  simulta- 
neously. No  doubt  the  lady  had  been  beautiful 
in  her  youth  ;  but  her  particular  style  of  beauty 
had  not  been  proof  against  the  devastating  power 
of  years,  and  I  doubt  whether  any  man  in 
Erzeroum,  except  that  very  polite  French  consul, 
would  have  seen  extraordinary  loveliness  in  the 
lady  who  was  handed  over  to  our  care  at  the 
very  last  moment.  However,  there  was  nothing 
for  it  but  to  hoist  her  upon  a  pack-saddle,  to 
mount  ourselves  upon  similar  uncomfortable  seats, 
and  to  start  the  melancholy  procession.  We 
said  good-bye  with  real  regret  to  PizarefiC  who 
had  been  a  capital  friend  and  a  most  charming 
and  genial  companion.  Fully  thirty  or  forty  other 
Russian  officers  came  to  see  us  off,  and  we  parted 
on  the  very  best  of  terms.  They  told  us  laugh- 
ingly that  they  intended  to  drop  in  upon  the 
British  army  in  India  some  day,  and  we  assured 
them  that  we  would  be  there  to  meet  them 
when  they  came.  Then  we  waved  our  last 
adieux,  and  turned  the  heads  of  those  long- 
suffering  pack-horses  towards  Trebizond. 


404  THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

Our  party  consisted  of  Denniston,  Stoker, 
Morisot,  myself,  and  Williams  our  trusty  drago- 
man, while  last,  but  not  least,  came  the  lady. 
We  had  hired  twelve  horses  to  carry  ourselves 
and  our  baggage,  contracting  to  pay  the  headman 
of  the  caravan  four  pounds  per  horse  for  the 
journey  to  Trebizond ;  and  accordingly  when  we 
started  we  formed  an  important  section  of  the 
whole  caravan  of  about  fifty  horses  which  set  out 
from  Erzeroum.  Besides  the  headman,  who  was 
a  most  forbidding-looking  Persian,  there  were 
fifteen  drivers  who  accompanied  us;  each,  I  think, 
dirtier,  hungrier,  and  more  truculent-looking  than 
the  other.  We  guessed  when  we  started  that 
the  journey  would  not  be  exactly  a  pleasure 
excursion  ;  but  the  reality  far  exceeded  our  antici- 
pations, and  the  next  time  that  any  one  asks 
me  to  make  an  overland  journey  with  a  widow, 
a  still  small  voice  within  will  whisper,  "  Beware  ! 
Remember  Erzeroum  and  the  Spanish  dona." 

Riding  on  a  pack-saddle,  which  consists  of  two 
plates  of  hard  wood  joined  by  hinges  at  the  apex 
where  it  fits  over  the  horse's  spine,  is  not  the 
most  agreeable  way  of  taking  horse  exercise ; 
and  the  dona,  who  was  necessarily  riding  en 
cavalier,  began  to  give  tongue  before  she  had 
gone  a  hundred  yards.  We  made  a  cushion  out 
of  an  old  sack  filled  with  hay,  and  our  incubus 
heaved  a  sigh  of  relief  when  we  placed  it  between 
her  ill  used  anatomy  and  the  bare  boards  which 


1878.]  MISERIES    OF    THE    WIDOW.  405 

she  bestrode.  Then  the  procession  went  forward 
again,  the  horses  stepping  out  in  single  file  on 
the  first  stage  of  the  long  journey  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty  miles  that  lay  between  us  and  the  sea. 

We  left  Erzeroum  on  March  31,  intending  to 
catch  the  Messageries  steamer  Simois,  which  was 
due  to  leave  Trebizond  on  April  10,  and  fancying 
that  by  giving  ourselves  ample  time  we  would 
have  three  or  four  days  in  Trebizond  to  recruit 
before  going  on  board.  However,  we  reckoned 
without  our  host,  or  on  this  occasion,  to  speak 
more  accurately,  without  our  guest — the  lady. 
She  spoke  every  continental  language  except 
English  with  equal  facility,  and  her  vocabulary  in 
each  was  surprisingly  extensive.  Day  and  night 
for  one  consecutive  fortnight  her  shrill  falsetto 
voice  poured  forth  a  never  failing  stream  of  com- 
plaint and  invective,  abuse  and  lamentation  in 
half  a  dozen  languages.  What  she  suffered  no 
one  knew  except  herself,  although  this  was  not 
her  fault,  to  be  sure,  for  she  lost  no  opportunity  of 
imparting  the  information,  sometimes  in  Spanish, 
and  when  she  had  exhausted  the  resources  of 
that  noble  language  in  the  slang  of  half  the 
capitals  of  Europe.  We  found  too  late  that  our 
dona  had  not  been  cast  in  the  heroic  mould. 
She  had  never  learnt  how  beautiful  it  is  to  suffer 
— and  be  silent. 

A  few  miles  from   Erzeroum  we  came  to  the 
village    of   Ilidja,    which    was    occupied    by    the 


406  THE    END    OF    THE   WAR. 

Russians ;  and  there  we  halted  for  half  an  hour, 
and  had  a  glass  of  wine  with  a  party  of  jovial 
officers,  who  were  keeping  up  their  spirits  as 
well  as  they  could  in  the  lonely,  God-forsaken 
place.  On  a  dunghill  in  the  village  we  counted 
eleven  dead  Russians  ;  so  we  guessed  that  the 
typhus  was  not  confined  to  Erzeroum. 

When  we  got  to  Purnekapan,  we  camped  for 
the  night  in  the  town,  intending  to  make  an  early 
start,  so  as  to  negotiate  the  Kopdagh  Pass  before 
the  sun  spoiled  the  road.  An  unexpected  diffi- 
culty, however,  presented  itself,  for  our  Persian 
headman  refused  to  go  on,  declaring  that  it  was 
necessary  to  rest  his  horses  for  a  day.  In  vain 
did  we  cojole,  threaten,  or  bully  him.  He  had 
come  under  the  spell  of  a  fixed  idea,  and  nothing 
that  we  could  say  seemed  to  have  the  slightest 
effect  upon  his  diseased  intelligence.  But  at 
last  I  found  a  way  to  move  him.  There  was  a 
Turkish  regiment  in  the  village,  and  I  sought 
an  interview  with  the  colonel,  who  had  heard 
something  about  our  work,  and  was  very  well 
disposed  towards  us.  Tapping  the  butt  of  his 
revolver  significantly,  he  suggested  to  the  Persian 
that  it  was  high  time  to  start,  and  the  hint  was 
accepted  with  alacrity.  However,  all  this  had 
taken  time,  and  before  we  left  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  and  began  the  ascent  it  was  eleven 
o'clock,  and  the  sun's  rays  were  ruining  the  track. 

It  was  as  exciting  a  bit  of  mountaineering  as 


1878.]  END    OF    A    PACK-HORSE.  407 

I  have  ever  gone  through,  and  we  had  to  strain 
every  nerve  to  climb  the  pass.     In  many  places 
the    track    was    only   a    couple   of  feet  wide,    a 
winding  path  cut  round  the  side  of  the  mountain, 
with  a  cliff  on  one  side  and  a  precipice  on  the 
other.     As  we  mounted  slowly  and  cautiously  up 
the  path,  every  nerve  was  at  tension  and  every 
sense  on  the  alert.     Now  and  then,  as  the  Persian 
drivers  shouted  and  urged  the  frightened  horses 
with  voice  and  whip  to  face  the  slippery  rising 
ground,  one  of  the  animals  would  slip,  and  for  a 
second  or  two  one's  heart  was  in  one's  mouth. 
In  spite  of  every  effort  we  lost  three  pack-horses 
before  we  won  the  summit.     A  slip  on  the  glassy 
surface,    a  couple   of  frightened    plunges    in    the 
loose   snow    near  the    edge,    and    then    the   un- 
fortunate   creatures    disappeared    over   the    side, 
falling   upon   a    lower   spur    four    hundred    feet 
beneath  us.     One  of  the  horses  that  we  lost  in 
this  way    was  loaded  with   my    personal    effects. 
The    presents    that    I    was   taking   back   to   my 
friends,  some  beautiful  turquoises  from  the  Tim's 
mines,  as  well  as  the  Russian  furs,  the  Russian 
leather  cigar-cases,  and  the  other  keepsakes  that 
the  warm-hearted  officers  in  Erzeroum  had  given 
me,    all    vanished   with    that   hapless    pack-horse 
into    some     inaccessible    ravine    far    below    the 
Kopdagh  peak.     However,  all  the  Persian  drivers 
came  through  safely,  and  there  were  no  missing 
faces  in  our  party  when  we  reached  the  summit, 


408  THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

nine  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
The  widow  was  still  with  us,  numbed  with  the 
cold,  exhausted  with  fatigue,  and  half  shaken  to 
death  on  her  pack-saddle,  but  voluble  as  ever, 
and,  like  the  person  in  the  Greek  play,  "full  of 
groans  and  not  devoid  of  tears." 

Just  as  we  neared  the  summit  I  saw  a  Turkish 
woman  climbing  slowly  and  painfully  up  the 
track  ;  but  when  we  got  to  the  shelter-house 
erected  on  the  crest  of  the  mountain,  I  lost  sight 
of  her.  As  we  resumed  our  march,  I  noticed 
tracks  in  the  snow  in  front  of  us,  and  drew  the 
attention  of  Williams  the  dragoman  to  the  im- 
pressions which  had  evidently  been  made  by  a 
woman.  The  dragoman  disappeared  for  ten 
minutes  on  a  tour  of  exploration,  and  when  he 
returned  he  brought  back  a  strange  piece  of 
intelligence.  A  Turkish  baby  had  been  born  in 
a  shed  near  the  shelter-house  while  we  were  there, 
and  the  mother,  whom  we  had  seen  climbing  the 
pass,  was  already  walking  off  with  her  newborn 
infant  to  her  own  village  five  miles  away  across 
the  snow.  Surely  the  cares  of  maternity  lie 
lightly  on  those  hardy  Turkish  mothers  in  the 
mountains  of  Asia  Minor. 

As  may  be  guessed,  we  found  a  good  deal  of 
difficulty  in  replenishing  our  commissariat  during 
this  eventful  journey.  The  Turkish  troops  had 
pretty  well  swept  the  board  ;  and  if  the  villagers 
had  not  hidden  away  some  of  their  scanty  stock 


1878.]  A    RAGOUT.  409 

from  the  foraging  parties,  we  should  have  come 
off  very  badly.  We  managed  to  get  eggs  occa- 
sionally en  route,  and  onions  were  also  obtainable. 
I  used  to  stuff  my  pockets  with  these  delicacies 
and  munch  them  raw.  I  found  them  very  sus- 
taining, and  I  have  no  doubt  that  my  companions 
when  they  ventured  near  me  could  testify  that 
my  diet  was  strong.  When  we  reached  the 
village  at  the  foot  of  the  Kopdagh  where  we 
were  to  camp  for  the  night,  we  were  all  ravenously 
hungry,  and  as  I  shot  a  keen  glance  round  the 
village  in  search  of  supplies  I  espied  a  kid.  It 
was  a  very  nice-looking  kid,  and  it  frisked  and 
gambolled  most  alluringly.  I  slipped  off  my  pack- 
horse,  and  approached  the  kid  in  a  friendly  manner 
that  disarmed  suspicion.  Then  I  grabbed  it  by 
the  ear,  drew  my  big  clasp  knife,  and  cut  its 
throat  on  the  spot.  I  skinned  it  and  cleaned  it 
with  my  own  experienced  hands,  and  Williams 
the  dragoman  made  an  excellent  ragout.  I  gave 
the  owner  of  the  kid  a  Turkish  lira  as  com- 
pensation for  his  loss,  which  was  truly  our  gain, 
for  the  kid  was  a  succulent  little  creature,  and 
tasted  very  much  like  venison. 

We  could  not  have  travelled  fast  under  the 
most  favourable  conditions,  and  hampered  as  we 
were  by  the  Spanish  widow  our  progress  became 
very  slow  indeed.  It  was  not  an  easy  task,  even 
for  one  accustomed  to  riding,  to  remain  on  the 
wooden  pack-saddle  when  a  rough  horse  was 


4IO  THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

plunging  about  in  the  snow ;  but  for  the  Spanish 
widow  it  was  literally  impossible — a  fact  which  she 
demonstrated  by  falling  off  five  times  during  the 
journey  over  the   Kop.     It  always  happened  in 
the  same  way.     The  hind  legs  of  her  pack-horse 
would  slip  down  in  the  loose  snow  up  to  the  hocks, 
while  the  fore  feet  remained  steady  for  just  one 
second  on  a  harder  patch,    so   that  the  animal's 
back    described   an    angle    of  forty-five    degrees 
with    the   surface   of  the   ground.     During   that 
one  second  the  widow  seized  the  opportunity  of 
slipping  off  backwards  over  the  horse's  tail  ;  and 
so  quickly  did  she  accomplish  the  feat  that  the 
watchful  Williams,  whom  I  specially  told  off,  much 
to  his  disgust,  to  look  after  her,  only  arrived  in 
time  to  pick  her  up.     The  sight  of  that  middle- 
aged,  sallow-faced  Spanish  person,  in  short  skirts 
and  blue  goggles,  sitting  helplessly  in  the  snow 
while  Williams  patiently  collected  her  once  more, 
would  have  made  us  laugh  heartily  were   it  not 
for  the  "  damnable  iteration  "  of  the  occurrence. 
The  presence  of  the  widow  caused  us   much 
annoyance  whenever  we  camped  for   the   night, 
because     sleeping     accommodation     was     usually 
scanty,   and  we    always  had  to  find  a    room  for 
the  lady  before  we  turned  in  ourselves.     Once, 
when  we  reached  the  village  where  we  were  going 
to  camp  for  the  night,  we  found  that  there  were 
only  two  sleeping-rooms  available  for  the  whole 
party,  so  that  we  had  to  give  one  to  the  widow, 


1878.]  MY    CATS    FROM    VAN.  411 

and  camp — all  five  of  us — in  the  other.  First  we 
showed  the  lady  to  her  apartment,  and  then  we 
went  to  look  at  our  own.  It  was  not  a  cosy 
bedroom,  with  French  bedsteads,  dimity  curtains 
on  the  windows,  and  roses  creeping  up  the  walls 
outside.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  a  small,  square 
room,  that  would  have  made  an  excellent  dog- 
kennel.  The  floor  was  of  mud,  and  in  a  corner 
there  was  a  heap  of  dirty  straw,  on  which  lay  two 
dead  Turkish  soldiers  who  had  died  of  confluent 
small-pox.  We  put  the  bodies  outside  the  house, 
and  Denniston,  Stoker,  Morisot,  and  myself,  with 
Williams  the  dragoman,  all  went  to  sleep  on  the 
straw. 

As  we  travelled  along  day  after  day  the  glare 
on  the  snow  was  very  trying  to  the  eyes  ;  and 
though  we  all  wore  blue  goggles,  we  suffered  a 
good  deal  of  inconvenience,  while  our  faces  were 
dreadfully  blistered  by  the  sun.  The  Persian 
headman  was  always  wanting  to  stop  and  rest 
his  horses ;  so  that  what  with  perpetually  working 
at  him  to  keep  him  up  to  the  mark,  pacifying  the 
Spanish  widow,  and  foraging  for  our  daily  bread, 
we  had  plenty  of  occupation  en  route.  All  our 
drivers  of  course  were  eager  to  rob  us  whenever 
the  opportunity  offered ;  and  in  addition  to  the 
furs  and  turquoises  which  I  had  already  lost 
through  a  pack-horse  going  over  the  precipice,  I 
was  also  deprived  of  two  very  fine  cats  from  the 
province  of  Van.  I  had  purchased  these  crea- 


412  THE    END    OF    THE    WAR. 

tures,  which  were  very  much  like  Persian  cats,  in 
Erzeroum,  and  I  had  hired  a  pack-horse  specially 
to  carry  them.  They  were  transported  in  a  wooden 
box  fixed  to  the  pack-saddle,  and  Williams  fed 
them  with  milk  whenever  we  halted  at  a  village. 
A  couple  of  days  before  we  reached  Trebizond, 
however,  my  beautiful  cats  disappeared  ;  and  the 
only  consolation  that  was  vouchsafed  me  for  my 
bereavement  was  the  vague  lie  of  a  Persian  driver, 
who  averred  that  they  had  escaped  from  their 
box  during  the  night.  Of  course  he  had  planted 
them  somewhere  for  subsequent  conversion  into 
ill  gotten  piastres. 

When  we  commenced  to  get  down  towards 
Trebizond,  we  left  the  snow  behind  us  on  the 
mountains,  and  entered  a  tract  of  well  timbered 
country,  which  was  looking  its  best  in  the  first 
flush  of  the  early  spring.  The  sides  of  the  hills 
were  gorgeous  with  pink  cyclamen,  and  with  a 
beautiful  blue  bulb  which  I  could  not  identify. 
At  last  we  entered  the  avenue  of  pear  trees 
which  were  laden  with  juicy  fruit  when  I  passed 
up  to  Erzeroum  six  months  previously.  When 
I  retraced  my  steps  to  Trebizond  with  new  com- 
panions, I  found  the  pear  trees  in  full  bloom. 
Since  I  had  seen  them  bending  under  the  burden 
of  the  ripening  fruitage,  fire  and  sword  and  frost 
and  fever  had  brought  many  hundreds  of  men  to 
death  before  my  eyes,  and  I  myself  had  been 
down  |to  the  very  borders  of  the  Valley  of  the 


1878.]  TREBIZOND    AT    LAST.  413 

Shadow.  But  now  the  war  was  over,  the  winter 
was  done,  and  the  scent  of  the  white  pear  blossoms 
that  filled  all  the  valley  blended  with  the  first 
faint  fragrance  of  the  breezes  from  the  ever 
nearing  waters  of  the  "Black  Sea. 
Trebizond  at  last ! 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

CONCLUSION. 

We  fly  from  the  Widow — Arrival  at  Constantinople — English 
Philanthropy — The  Baroness  Burdett- Courts— First  Acquaint- 
ance with  a  well  known  Actress — Osman  Pasha  back  again 
— The  Turkish  Skobeleff — A  much  perforated  Paletot — 
Captain  Morisot's  Career — A  Romantic  Escape — On  Board 
the  Gamboge — We  reach  Smyrna — Mr.  and  Mrs.  Zohrab — 
A  Sympathetic  Englishwoman — Zara  Dilber  Effendi — Back 
in  London — Patriotic  Ditties — An  Incredulous  Music-hall 
Proprietor — Non  e  Vero — Bowling  out  a  Story-teller. 

WE  had  time  to  call  on  Mr.  Biliotti  again,  and 
to  thank  him  for  all  his  kindness ;  and  then  we 
went  on  board  the  Simois,  which  was  ready  to 
cast  off  her  moorings  and  head  out  for  Con- 
stantinople. Our  Spanish  widow  was  consistent 
to  the  last.  The  real  hardships  of  the  journey 
had  not  improved  her  temper ;  and  when  we 
resolutely  declined  to  pay  her  passage  to  Con- 
stantinople in  the  steamer,  she  cursed  us  up 
and  down  Trebizond,  each  and  severally,  with 
the  comprehensive  particularity  that  was  devoted 
to  the  historic  cursing  of  the  Jackdaw  of  Rheims. 
She  was  indeed  that  rare — or  somewhat  rare- 
phenomenon,  an  ungrateful  woman. 

414 


1878.]  ARRIVAL    AT    CONSTANTINOPLE.  415 

When  we  reached  Constantinople  the  whole 
place  was  full  of  excitement,  for  the  Russian  army 
was  at  San  Stefano,  only  a  few  miles  away, 
and  Pera  was  almost  like  a  Russian  town. 
Every  day  hundreds  of  Russians  might  be  seen 
clanking  up  and  down  the  streets  in  full  uniform, 
when  they  came  in  on  leave  from  San  Stefano. 

English  philanthropy  was  displayed  as  gener- 
ously at  this  stage  as  it  had  been  throughout 
the  entire  course  of  the  war,  and  English  gold 
was  freely  spent  on  the  relief  of  starving  and 
fever-stricken  refugees  from  the  Turkish  pro- 
vinces as  well  as  on  the  sick  and  wounded 
troops.  We  got  into  touch  with  the  philan- 
thropic scheme  undertaken  by  the  Baroness 
Burdett-Coutts,  who  had  sent  out  a  large  sum 
of  money  for  the  relief  of  the  refugees ;  and 
we  also  met  Mr.  William  Ashmead-Bartlett, 
the  administrator  of  the  fund,  who  afterwards 
married  the  baroness.  He  was  ill  with  typhoid 
fever  contracted  from  some  of  the  refugees,  and 
was  under  treatment  at  the  English  hospital, 
where  his  brother  (now  Sir  Ellis  Ashmead- 
Bartlett)  was  looking  after  him.  Denniston, 
Stoker,  and  I  paid  a  visit  of  inspection  to  the 
temporary  hospitals  established  with  the  money 
supplied  by  the  Baroness  Burdett-Coutts,  and 
furnished  a  report  upon  them. 

It  is  to  Sir  Ellis  Ashmead-Bartlett  that  I  owe 
my  first  introduction  to  a  very  charming  American 


41 6  CONCLUSION. 

lady,  who  has  since  become  known  to  a  wide 
circle  through  her  career  on  the  stage.  When 
I  first  met  her  she  was  an  extraordinarily  pretty 
woman,  and  she  and  her  husband  were  on  their 
honeymoon  trip.  He  was  a  very  gentlemanly 
man,  with  a  rather  retiring  disposition  ;  while  she 
was  about  twenty  years  of  age,  and  a  perfect 
model  of  youthful  womanhood.  Every  glance 
of  her  brightly  flashing  eyes  and  every  line  of 
her  finely  moulded  figure  told  of  bounding  life 
and  vivacity.  Sir  Ellis  Ashmead-Bartlett  and 
I  saw  a  good  deal  of  her  and  her  husband  for 
a  week  or  two.  We  had  lunch  together  often, 
and  took  part  in  several  picnics  up  the  Bosphorus, 
in  that  spring-time  nineteen  years  ago,  when 
the  blue  waters  of  the  strait  and  the  bright 
eyes  of  La  belle  Americaine  laughed  in  har- 
mony, while  Europe  was  waiting  with  beating 
heart  for  the  verdict — peace  or  war.  I  met 

the  B P s  again  on  board  the  steamer 

which  took  me  away  from  Constantinople. 
Then  our  paths  in  life  divided,  and  I  had  almost 
forgotten  the  vivacious  American  lady,  when 
one  evening  a  year  or  two  ago  I  dropped  into 
the  Princess's  Theatre  in  Melbourne  to  see 
Sardou's  great  play  La  Tosca.  In  the  actress 
who  was  playing  the  name  part  I  recognized 
my  acquaintance  of  the  stirring  times  of  the  war. 
It  was  Mrs.  B-  •  P- 

Osman    Pasha,    who   had  been    a   prisoner   of 


1878.]  OSMAN    PASHAr.  417 

war  in  Russia,  had  been  sent  back  into  Turkey 
at  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  and  I  went  up  to 
call  on  him  at  the  Seraskierat.  He  was  never 
a  very  communicative  man,  and  the  mental  strain 
which  the  magnificent  defence  of  Plevna  and 
ultimately  the  tragic  fall  of  the  town  imposed 
upon  him  seemed  to  have  deepened  his  natural 
reserve.  However,  he  gave  me  a  hearty  welcome, 
and  appeared  to  be  much  interested  in  my  account 
of  our  doings  in  Erzeroum.  I  told  him  that 
if  war  broke  out  again  on  a  larger  scale  than 
before,  I  would  return  to  my  old  comrades ;  and 
I  said  that  if  I  ever  came  back  to  Constantinople, 
I  would  like  to  bring  him  a  little  present  from 
England.  When  I  asked  him  what  he  would 
choose,  he  said  that  there  was  nothing  which 
he  would  like  so  much  as  a  real  English  saddle 
and  bridle.  Osman  Pasha  was  a  thorough  soldier 
in  his  love  for  a  first-class  equipment,  and  I  was 
sorry  that  I  never  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing 
him  again  to  make  him  the  present. 

Dear  old  Hassib  Bey,  the  principal  medical 
officer  in  Plevna,  was  quite  affected  when  he 
saw  me  again,  and  we  had  a  great  chat  over 
old  times. 

Tewfik  Pasha,  who  was  the  SkobelefF  of  the 
Turkish  army,  was  living  in  a  house  at  Galata, 
and  I  went  to  call  on  him  there.  When  I 
entered  the  room,  he  was  deeply  moved,  and 
embraced  me  warmly.  Tewfik  was  always  in  the 

27 


41 8  CONCLUSION. 

forefront  of  the  battle  while  I  was  in  Plevna ; 
and  when  the  memorable  attack  was  delivered 
in  which  he  recaptured  the  Krishin  redoubts 
from  Skobeleff,  it  was  Tewfik  who  headed  the 
column  of  assault  and  cheered  the  Turks  on  to 
victory.  He  seemed  to  bear  a  charmed  life ;  for 
in  spite  of  all  the  hot  fighting  that  he  had  done, 
he  had  come  through  the  campaign  without  a 
scratch.  When  I  mentioned  that  he  had  been 
extraordinarily  lucky  in  all  his  fighting,  he 
motioned  to  his  soldier  servant  who  was  in  the 
room  to  take  down  a  big  military  paletot  which 
hung  on  the  wall.  The  man  took  down  the 
overcoat  which  was  the  garment  that  Tewfik 
Pasha  had  worn  all  through  the  siege.  It  was 
fastened  down  the  front  with  frogs  instead  of 
buttons,  and  was  provided  with  ample  skirts 
that  would  blow  about  in  the  wind  when  the  coat 
was  not  fastened  securely.  At  Tewfik's  request 
I  examined  it,  and  counted  no  fewer  than  eleven 
different  bullet-holes  through  the  cloth.  In  some 
cases  no  doubt  one  bullet  had  made  two  holes  ; 
but  it  was  evident  that  on  a  good  many  different 
occasions  the  gallant  soldier  who  wore  the 
garment  was  literally  within  an  inch  of  death. 

Captain  Morisot  and  I  were  invited  to  go  to 
dinner  one  day  at  San  Stefano  with  a  party 
of  Russian  officers  ;  but,  much  to  my  disappoint- 
ment, something  interfered  with  the  engagement, 
and  I  missed  the  only  chance  I  ever  had  of 


1878.]  CAPTAIN    MORISOT.  419 

meeting  the  famous  SkobelefF,  who  was  then 
quartered  at  the  little  port  on  the  Dardanelles. 
I  found  Morisot  a  delightful  companion  ;  and 
now  that  we  were  not  oppressed  with  hospital 
duties,  I  had  plenty  of  time  to  enjoy  his  society. 
His  career  indeed  was  a  most  romantic  and 
interesting  one.  He  had  been  shut  up  in  Metz 
with  Bazaine  during  the  Franco- Prussian  war, 
seven  years  earlier ;  and  when  the  much  criticised 
marshal  capitulated,  Morisot  became  a  prisoner  of 
war  with  the  rest  of  the  garrison,  and  was  sent 
away  to  Stettin  on  the  Baltic.  Though  the 
prisoners  were  carefully  watched,  Morisot,  who 
spoke  English  like  an  Englishman,  managed  to 
arrange  a  plan  of  escape ;  and  one  dark  night 
he  and  another  French  officer  eluded  the  guards, 
and  pulled  out  in  a  dingy  to  a  small  Scottish 
schooner,  trading  between  Glasgow  and  Stettin. 
The  skipper,  who  was  a  "  braw  mon  fra  Glasgie," 
and  hated  the  Prooshians  with  a  deep  and  deadly 
hatred,  received  Morisot  and  his  companion 
with  enthusiasm,  and  landed  them  after  a  fair 
passage  at  Copenhagen,  where  they  were  given 
quite  an  ovation.  The  Schleswig-Holstein  affair 
was  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  Danes,  and 
they  were  delighted  at  the  opportunity  of  doing 
honour  to  men  who  had  drawn  the  sword  against 
Germany.  Morisot  afterwards  went  to  England  ; 
and  when  the  Russo-Turkish  campaign  broke 
out,  he  hurried  to  Constantinople  in  search  of 


420  CONCLUSION. 

further  adventures.  Animated  as  he  was  by  the 
true  spirit  of  a  soldier  of  fortune,  Morisot  found 
a  scope  for  his  energies  afterwards  in  the  ideal 
field  of  military  adventure.  "  Ex  Africa  semper 
aliquid  novi,"  wrote  an  old  historian  ;  and  the 
dashing  young  Frenchman,  recognizing  the  truth 
of  the  remark  even  in  these  days,  went  to  the 
Cape. 

A  feeling  was  creeping  over  me  that  it  was 
high  time  I  had  a  rest  after  all  the  storm  and 
stress  of  battle ;  and  when  a  letter  came  to  me 
one  day  from  my  mother,  who  was  in  England, 
I  packed  up  my  things  on  a  sudden  impulse 
and  stepped  on  board  the  Messageries  steamer 
Gamboge.  Among  my  fellow  passengers  were 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  B P ,  who  were  bound  on 

a  trip  through  the  Holy  Land,  and  left  us  at 
Smyrna.  I  also  met  again  Admiral  Sir  William 
Hewitt,  who  had  entertained  us  on  board  his  ship 
the  Achilles  before  I  went  to  Erzeroum.  He 
and  I  occupied  the  same  cabin  on  the  voyage. 

At  Smyrna  I  found  our  old  friend  Mr.  Zohrab 
with  his  wife.  Mrs.  Zohrab  was  a  dear,  kind, 
motherly  Englishwoman  ;  and  when  she  saw  me, 
the  thought  of  the  sufferings  that  we  had  all  gone 
through  in  Erzeroum  and  the  fate  which  had 
fallen  upon  so  many  of  the  people  whom  she 
knew  quite  overcame  her.  She  flung  her  arms 
round  my  neck,  and  burst  into  tears.  Of  course 
Mr.  Zohrab  was  very  anxious  to  hear  all  that 


1878.]  MR.    AND    MRS.    ZOHRAB.  421 

had  happened  to  us  since  he  left  Erzeroum,  and 
whether  we  were  comfortable  in  the  house  that  he 
was  obliged  to  desert.  I  told  him  that  we  did 
full  justice  to  his  provisions  and  his  wines  ;  and 
the  expression  of  his  face  was  quite  pathetic 
when  I  described  the  delightful  little  dinner 
parties  that  we  gave  to  the  Russian  officers  out 
of  his  ample  stores.  Poor  old  Zohrab !  He 
listened  with  much  the  same  feelings  that  Ulysses 
might  have  had  when  the  island  princes,  over- 
bold, were  feasting  on  his  substance  and  the  steam 
of  the  roasting  beef  (which  the  poet  avers  is  dear 
to  the  gods)  rose  up  in  his  lordly  halls. 

Recollections  of  Osman  Pasha's  ball  at  Widdin 
came  back  to  me  when  I  met  at  Smyrna  Zara 
Dilber  Effendi,  the  skilful  entertainer  who  ar- 
ranged all  the  details  of  that  never  to  be  forgotten 
function.  He  and  I  spent  the  afternoon  together, 
and  had  much  to  tell  each  other.  The  sight  of 
this  polished  and  dignified  gentleman  carried  me 
back  to  my  first  experiences  in  Turkey,  and  his 
face  was  almost  the  last  that  I  saw  before  I  went 
on  board  ship  again,  and  said  good-bye  for  ever 
to  that  strange  empire  where  the  glow  of  romance 
and  chivalry  and  the  pure  flame  of  passionate 
patriotism  shone  among  the  gathering  shadows 
that  have  since  almost  obscured  the  "  light  of 
other  days." 

When  I  reached  London,  I  found  all  England 
ringing  with  the  tidings  of  the  fighting,  and 


422  CONCLUSION. 

there  were  plenty  of  evidences  of  the  interest 
taken  in  the  political  situation.  The  music-halls, 
where  one  may  touch  the  pulse  of  popular  feeling, 
were  crowded  every  night  with  audiences  who 
tumultuously  applauded  the  patriotic  ditties  that 
were  encored  over  and  over  again,  especially 
the  famous  song  which  set  forth  that  "  The 
Russians  shall  not  have  Constantino-o-ple." 

I  happened  one  night  to  stroll  into  the  newly 
built  "  Canterbury  Theatre  of  Varieties,"  which, 
by  means  of  the  novelty  of  a  sliding  roof,  com- 
bined with  a  programme  illustrating  scenes  in 
the  campaign  which  was  just  concluded,  drew 
big  crowds  nightly.  One  of  the  items  on  the 
programme  was  a  realistic  scene  depicting  the 
taking  of  the  Grivitza  redoubt  by  the  Russians, 
and  I  watched  the  gallant  "  supers  "  with  mingled 
feelings  as  they  charged  home  upon  the  card- 
board bayonets.  The  scene  was  capitally  done, 
and  there  was  a  prodigious  expenditure  of  ammu- 
nition, which  the  audience  applauded  mightily. 
After  the  performance  I  sent  my  card  round 
to  Mr.  Villiers,  who  was  the  proprietor  of  the 
show,  intimating  that  I  would  like  to  see  him. 
A  tall,  rather  good-looking  man,  in  the  elaborate 
evening  dress  of  a  prosperous  theatrical  manager, 
and  wearing  an  enormous  diamond  in  his  shirt 
front,  made  his  appearance,  and  listened  quietly 
while  I  complimented  him  upon  the  realism 
of  the  entertainment.  I  told  him  that  it  was 


1878.]  AN    INCREDULOUS    MANAGER.  423 

really  a  very  creditable  show,  but  that  there 
were  one  or  two  points  in  which  it  might  be 
improved,  and  that,  as  I  was  the  only  English- 
man in  Plevna  during  the  attack,  I  could  give 
him  some  hints  which  would  make  the  repre- 
sentation more  accurate  historically,  while  at  the 
same  time  not  impairing  the  spectacular  effect. 
Mr.  Villiers,  who,  by  the  way,  was  the  uncle  of 
my  friend  Fred  Villiers,  the  war  correspondent, 
did  not  seem  very  enthusiastic.  In  fact,  his 
demeanour  was  distinctly  discouraging.  I  felt 
that  he  had  something  to  say,  and  waited  anxiously 
for  his  answer.  "Well,  sir,"  he  remarked,  looking 
me  straight  in  the  face  while  he  twiddled  his 
heavy  gold  watch-chain,  "  I  am  not  going  to  say 
that  I  don't  believe  you  ;  but  you  are  the  eleventh 
man  who  has  come  round  here  with  exactly 
the  same  story."  I  was  crushed,  and  bowed 
myself  out  from  the  presence  of  the  potentate, 
almost  wondering  whether  I  really  ever  had  been 
to  Plevna. 

That  there  were  plenty  of  impostors  about,  and 
that  Mr.  Villiers  had  ample  ground  for  being 
suspicious  of  casual  strangers  professing  to  have 
Turkish  military  experience,  I  soon  discovered 
for  myself.  I  happened  to  be  travelling  up  to 
Scotland  a  couple  of  days  afterwards,  when  a 
gentlemanly  looking  individual  got  into  the 
smoking  carriage  with  me,  and  we  fell  to  chatting 
upon  the  current  topics  of  the  day.  The  stranger 


424  CONCLUSION. 

began  to  interest  me  vastly,  when  he  turned  the 
conversation  dexterously  into  a  discussion  of  the 
Russo-Turkish  campaign,  and  informed  me  that, 
though  an  Englishman,  he  had  served  in  the 
artillery  under  Osman  Pasha,  and  had  been 
present  in  Plevna  during  the  siege.  I  let  him 
go  on  for  fully  a  quarter  of  an  hour  recounting 
his  apocryphal  exploits,  and  then  I  thought  it 
was  time  to  speak.  "  Well,  sir,"  I  said,  "  it  is  a 
most  extraordinary  thing  to  think  that  you  could 
have  told  that  story  to  any  other  man  in  England 
except  myself,  and  he  might  have  believed  you." 
I  gave  him  my  name,  and  told  him  that  I  knew 
all  the  artillery  officers  in  Plevna,  and  that  he 
certainly  was  not  one  of  them.  Never  was  an 
unfortunate  raconteur  so  non-plussed.  He  threw 
up  the  sponge  at  once,  and  admitted  that  his 
story  was  a  fabrication  suggested  to  him  by  the 
fact  that  he  had  once  made  a  holiday  trip  in 
Turkey. 

And  now  the  close  of  the  book  is  reached ; 
but  before  the  last  word  is  written,  I  should 
like  to  express  my  profound  admiration  for  the 
soldierly  qualities  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
Turkish  army,  with  whom  I  lived  on  terms  of 
intimate  companionship  for  nearly  two  years. 
Courageous  in  misfortune,  uncomplaining  under 
the  most  awful  suffering,  good-humoured  in  every 
situation,  the  Turkish  troops,  both  officers  and 


1878.]  THE    TURKS.  425 

men,  showed  throughout  all  the  campaign  the 
temper  of  true  heroes.  I  need  hardly  say  that 
for  me  it  is  deeply  painful  to  think  that  the  men 
whom  I  almost  idealized,  the  men  with  whom  I 
fought  and  suffered,  with  whom  I  tasted  the  glory 
of  victory  and  the  bitterness  of  defeat,  should 
lie  under  the  accusation  of  the  atrocities  which 
we  must  believe  have  been  committed  in  1896, 
not  only  in  Armenia,  but  also  in  Constantinople. 
Yet  through  the  black  cloud  that  hangs  over 
the  Turkish  Empire  to-day  I  can  still  discern 
the  distant  stars  ;  for  I  can  look  back  with  honest 
pride  to  the  high  sense  of  honour,  the  dauntless 
courage,  the  loyalty  and  true  patriotism  of  those 
who  were  my  comrades  in  arms  in  the  earlier 
and  brighter  days. 


INDEX. 


ABDUL  KERIM  PASHA,  49,  99. 

Achilles,  309,  420. 

Adil  Pasha,  60,  183. 

Adrianople,  301. 

Ahmed  Pasha,  106. 

Ahmet,  22,  185,  189,  256,  258; 
his  return  to  the  ranks,  297. 

Ahmet  Bey,  48 ;  captures  a  Ser- 
vian, 49. 

Ak  Palanka,  30. 

Alexandra,  309. 

Alexinatz,  30,  34. 

Alix,  Colonel,  308. 

Alouf  Pasha,  113. 

Anisimoff,  Captain,  378. 

Arab  regiment,  cases  of  malin- 
gering, 145  ;  remedy,  147. 

Ararat,  Mount,  365. 

Archaeological  curiosities,  365. 

Archbishop,  Catholic  Armenian, 
of  Erzeroum,  364. 

Armenians,  sickness  of,  364,  374. 

Artzar  village,  103. 

Ashkaleh,  363. 

Ashmead-Bartlett,  Sir  E.,  415, 
416. 

Ashmead-Bartlett,  Mr.  W.,  415. 

Austin,  Charles,  special  corre- 
spondent for  the  Times,  370. 


BAIBURT,  320,  334,  362,  374. 

Baker  Pasha,  50,  308. 

Baltic,  419. 

Bash  Tabiya  redoubt,  237,  255, 
265. 

Basilio,  Father,  354. 

Batavia,  38. 

Bavaria,  4. 

Bazaine,  419. 

Bazias,  9. 

Beaconsfield,  Lord,  372. 

Belgrade,  9. 

Beresford,  Dr.,  392. 

Bergan,  General,  308;  rifle 
bullet,  132. 

Berlin  Congress,  372. 

Besika  Bay,  372. 

Bey,  Fano,  301. 

Bey,  Temple,  300. 

Biliotti,  Sir  A.,  English  consul 
at  Trebizond,  316,  361,  414. 

Bingen,  9. 

Black,  Dr.,  61  ;  his  habits,  62 ; 
arrested,  64;  sent  from  Wid- 
din,  65. 

Black  Sea,  n,  14,  315. 

Blantyre,  Lord,  324 ;  his  hos- 
pital, 326;  generosity,  334. 

Bonn,  3,  9. 


427 


428 


INDEX. 


Bosphorus,  n,  14. 

Bouchon,  Captain,  65. 

Bourbaki,  85. 

Brestovitz  village,  225. 

Brisbane,  36. 

Briscoe,  308. 

Buckle,  Dr.,  324,  368. 

Buda-Pesth,  3,  9. 

Bukova  redoubts,  220;   village, 

115,  127,  137. 
Bulgareni  road,  170. 
Bulgarians,     characteristic,    23 ; 

fondness    for   bright    colours, 

41  ;  folk-songs,  42. 
Burdett-Coutts,    Baroness,    her 

fund     for  the    relief  of   the 

refugees,  415. 
Busch,  Dr.,  68  ;  Mdme.,  68. 
Busch,  Prof.,  3. 
Butler,  Dr.,  11. 
Byron,  Lord,  extract  from  "The 

Siege  of  Corinth,"  350. 

C ,  SENHOR  GARCIA,  4. 

Cambridge,  Duke  of,  43. 

Camp  life,  routine  of,  263. 

"  Canterbury  Theatre,"  422. 

Carlo,  Monte,  36. 

Carlos,  Don,  85. 

Casson,  Dr.,  324,  368. 

Chefket  Pasha,    194;  his  relief 

column,  283. 
Christmas  dinner,  52,  342-345  ; 

mixing    the    plum     pudding, 

343- 

Circassians,  their  bravery  and 
rapacity,  94 ;  raid  on  Rou- 
manian cattle,  95 ;  private 
forays,  98 ;  looting  the  dead, 
148,  150. 

Coblenz,  9. 


Cole,  Rev.  Mr.,  351,  352. 

Cvlghassi,  or  major,  14. 

Cologne,  9. 

Commerell,  Vice-Admiral  Sir 
Edward,  363. 

Constantinople,  12,  16,  303,  415  ; 
number  of  Sundays,  17;  ad- 
venturers, 305. 

Cooktown,  39. 

Copenhagen,  419. 

Crajova,  73. 

Crescent,  origin  of  the,  12. 

Czetwertinski,  Prince,  32,  171, 
178,  195,  202,  231,  243,  251, 
259  ;  his  career,  33-39  ;  death, 
39;  sent  away  invalided,  265. 

DAGHISTAN,  378. 

Danube,  9,  58. 

Dardanelles,  14,  419. 

David,  325. 

Dead,  burial  of  the,  152,  349. 

Denniston,  Dr.  James,  324,  326, 
331,  335,  336,  342,  351,  36o, 
374,  379>  383,  39°,  4oo,  404, 
415- 

Derby,  Lord,  340. 

Devoi  Boyun,  384. 

Dickson,  Gen.  Sir  C.,  304,  313. 

Dolni-Netropol  village,  259. 

Drachenfels,  3,  9. 

Dugald,  Lieut.,  223. 

Duhoffskoy,  Gen.,  395,  397,  400. 

Duhoffskoy,  Princess,  398-400. 

ECCLES,  DR.  SIMON,  10. 

Eden,  Garden  of,  legendary  site 

of  the,  316,  323. 
Edhim  Effendi,  30. 
Edim  Pasha,  217. 
Edinburgh,  3. 


INDEX. 


429 


Egyptian  troops,  compared  with 
the  Turkish  allies,  66. 

Ehrenbreitstein,  9. 

Emin  Bey,  109,  206. 

Eolia-tepe,  368. 

Epsom  salts,  method  of  giving, 
76. 

Erzeroum,  323  ;  condition  of  the 
Turkish  garrison  at,  312,  314; 
first  impression  of,  325  ;  popu- 
lation, 326;  interior  of  the 
gaol,  336 ;  mortality,  348 ;  burial 
of  the  dead,  349  ;  horrors  of, 
359!  occupied  by  the  Russians, 
367 ;  last  week  in,  396  ;  de- 
parture from,  403. 

Erzinghan,   374 ;   expedition  to, 

341. 

Eski-Zagra,  166. 
Euphrates  river,  323. 

FAIZI,  34,  203,  258. 
Fetherstonhaugh,    Charles,    324, 
326,  331  ;   attacked  by  fever, 

335- 

FitzGeorge,  Colonel,  43. 
Fitzgerald,  war  correspondent  of 

the  Standard,  66. 
Flemington,  race  meeting  at,  38. 
Foley,  44. 

Forbes,  Archibald,  245. 
Forbes,  Dr.,  8. 
Forbes,  Litton,  30,  31. 
Francis,  Mr.  J.  E.,  8. 
Franco-Prussian  war,  419. 
French,   difficulties    in    talking, 

368. 
Frostbite,  cases  of,  333,  336. 

GALATA,  12,  417. 
Galicia,  33,  35. 


Gamboge,  420. 

Gay,  Drew,  war  correspondent 
to  the  Daily  Telegraph,  217, 
244;  succeeds  in  getting  to 
Sofia,  245-247. 

Gebhardt,  242. 

Geneva,  192. 

Geoffrey,  8. 

Ghumish  Khane,  319,  362. 

Gill,  Dr.,  301. 

Giorgione,  Captain,  80,  81. 

Glasgow,  419. 

Goar,  St.,  9. 

Golden  Horn,  17. 

Gordon,  General,  84. 

Gorny  Diibnik,  313. 

Gourko,  General,  106,  166. 

"  Green  Hills,"  115,  229. 

Grivitza  redoubt,  185,  220,  22 1, 
225,  228,  235  ;  village,  114,  121, 
127,  137,  169;  attack  on,  171. 

Gunner,  death  of  a,  124. 

Gunshot  wounds,  variety  of,  130. 

Guppy,  Dr.,  324,351. 

HAIN-BOGAN,  106. 

Hainkioj,  106. 

Hakem  bashi,  29. 

Hakki  Bey,  351,  375,  385,  396. 

Hakki  Pasha,  262,  300. 

Hamdi  Bey,  217. 

Harris,  his  scheme  for  blowing 

up  a  bridge,  306. 
Harvey,  Mr.,  285,  315,  316,  326, 

331- 

Hassan  Hairi  Pasha,  99. 
Hassan   Labri    Pasha,   79,    157, 

174,  206,  .213. 
Hassan  Pasha,  106. 
Hassan,  Prince,  66. 
Hassib  Bey,  head  of  the  hospital, 


430 


INDEX. 


63,  89,  ioi,  125,  136,  157,  159, 
198,  294,  417;  his  interview 
with  Dr.  Mackellar,  288. 

Herbert,  Lieut.  V.,  Defence  of 
Plevna^  ioi  note. 

Hewitt,  Admiral  Sir  William, 
309,  420. 

Heymann,  General,  his  wish  to 
inhabit  the  Consulate,  384; 
death,  387. 

Hobart,  231. 

Hornby,  Admiral,  309. 

Hospital,  number  of  cases,  272  ; 
horrors  of  the,  272-279;  con- 
dition, 273;  gangrene,  278, 

334- 

Huon  river,  321. 
Hussein  Effendi,  375. 

IBRAHIM   BEY,   COLONEL,  222 ; 

redoubt,  222,  226. 
Ichtiman  village,  23,  301. 
Ilidja  village,  363,  405. 
Irving,  Sir  Henry,  10. 
Isker  river,  in. 
Ismet,  Gulf  of,  14,  309. 
Izzet  Effendi,  31. 
Izzet  Pasha,  67,  ioi. 

JACK,  62. 

James,  Captain,  43. 

Janik  Bair,   121,   127,    137,   170, 

259,  266. 

Jardin,  M.,  386,  401. 
Jarra  bashi,  29. 
Jeune,  Sir  Francis,  10. 
Jevislik,  361. 
Jews,  number  of,  57. 
Jules,  Mr.,  37. 
Julier  Pass,  321. 


KABOBS,  103. 

Kaimakan,  119. 

Kakrinka  village,  209. 

Kalafat,  60,   81  ;    bombardment 

from,  90. 

Kanli  Tabiya,  237. 
Kars,  attack  on,  332;  march  of 

the  wounded  prisoners  from, 

333- 

Kavanlik  redoubt,  242. 
Keen,  Howard,  46. 
Kemball,  Sir  Arnold,  316,  323. 
Kennett,  Mr.  V.  Barrington,  289, 

312,  3H. 
Khartoum,  84. 
Kischeneff,  89. 
Klapka,  General,  33. 
Komaroff,  General,  381. 
Konak,  or  townhall,  58. 
Kop  village,  362. 
Kopdagh   Pass,  323,   362,   406 ; 

crossing  the,  407. 
Krenke  rifle,  132. 
Krishin  redoubt,  220,  225. 
Krivodol,  105,  107. 
Kronberg,  Dr.,  68 ;  Mdme.,  68. 
Kronberg,  Dr.,  242,  265,  269 ;  his 

hatred  of  the  Bulgarians,  270. 
Kriidener,  General,  106,  166. 
Kurd  Ismael  Pasha,  340,  367. 
Kustler,  Dr.,  102,  146,  242. 
Kyrchehir  Regiment,  1 8 ;  ordered 

to  Sofia,  50 ;  to  Orkhanieh,  53 ; 

to  Widdin,  55. 

LADY  patient,  the  first,  27. 

Lalor,  Sir  Peter,  83. 

Lauri,  Victor,  35,  217,  226,  243, 
246,  265  ;  his  portrait  of  the 
Khedive,  2 17;  German  sausage, 
248. 


INDEX. 


431 


Lazistan,  317;  men,  318;  dogs, 31 8. 

Leader,  Nicholas,  war  correspon- 
dent of  the  Daily  Telegraph, 
84;  his  adventurous  career, 
85 ;  death,  86. 

Lemberg,  33»  35- 

Leslie,  Armand,  30. 

Leslie,  Ralph,  44. 

Lorn,  army  of  the,  50,  165. 

London,  8,  421. 

Lovtcha,  99;  occupied  by  General 
Sobatoff,  1 54 ;  inhabitants, 
155;  recaptured  by  Osman 
Pasha,  1 56  ;  march  towards, 
207  ;  news  of  the  fall,  209. 

MACEDON,  PHILIP  OF,  12. 
MacGahan,   war    correspondent 

for  a  London  newspaper,  25, 

245. 
Mackellar,Dr.,  283,  284,  293,  301  ; 

interview  with  Osman  Pasha, 

286,  with  Hassib  Bey,  288. 
Magack,  366,  369. 
Mahomed  II.,  12. 
Malingering,  cases  of,  21,  145. 
Mammoth  battery,  225,  226. 
Marmora,  Sea  of,  14. 
McCalmont,  Captain,  316. 
Medical  staff,  mortality  among, 

360 ;  loss  of  supplies,  263. 
Medjidie,  fourth  order  of  the,  379, 

392  ;  fifth  order,  34. 
Mehemet  AH,  the  paymaster,  18, 

22,   101. 

Mehemet  Ali  Pasha,  50,  99. 
Mehemet,  Circassian  servant,  1 20. 
Mehemet  Nazif  Bey,  157. 
Melbourne  University,  3. 
Melikoff,  General,  his  attack  on 
Kars,  332  ;  in  Erzeroum,  367  ; 


reviews  his  troops,  371 ;  his 
appearance,  374;  administra- 
tive ability,  391. 

Metternich,  Prince,  33. 

Metz,  419. 

Michael,  Grand  Duke,  363. 

Midhat  Pasha,  24. 

Mikren,  210. 

Misserie's  Hotel,  12,  303. 

Montagnes  Vertes,  235. 

Moon,  eclipse  of  the,  196. 

Moore,  Dr.  Bond,  283,  285,  293  ; 
his  interview  with  Osman 
Pasha,  286. 

Moravia  river,  39. 

Morisot,  Captain,  284,  314,  316, 
326,  331,  334,  364,  404,  418 ; 
attacked  with  typhus  fever, 
351 ;  his  return  to  Erzeroum, 
392 ;  career,  419. 

Mukhtar  Pasha,  314,  326. 

Munday,  Baron,  301,  314. 

Murray,  Mr.  D.  Christie,  283, 293. 

Mustapha  Bey,  34,  172,  178,  259, 
262,  298. 

Musurus  Pasha,  Turkish  ambas- 
sador in  London,  8. 

NALBAN-TEPE,  368. 
Narghileh,  30. 
Netropol  village,  261. 
Neuchatel,  8,  118, 
New  Caledonia,  192. 
Nicodema,  Gulf  of,  14. 
Nicopolis,  166 ;  march  to,   101  ; 
invested  by  the  Russians,  106. 
Nightingale,  Miss  Florence,  15. 
Nile,  84. 
Nish,  30,  32,  39. 
Norton,  Colonel,  308. 
Norway,  3. 


432 


INDEX. 


ODESSA,  35. 

O'Donovan,  Edmund,  85,  337  ; 
his  dinner  to  the  Circassians, 
337-339 ;  war  correspondent 
of  the  Daily  News,  340. 

Opanetz  village,  115,  121,  127, 
220,  225,  259. 

Orenburg  Cossacks,  378. 

Orkhanieh,  pass  of,  52,  300. 

Osma  river,  155,  210. 

Osman  Bey,  206. 

Osman  Effendi,  67,  143,  180,  239, 
242. 

Osman  Pasha,  34,  67,  104,  108 ; 
commander-in-chief  of  the 
troops  in  Widdin,  60  ;  his  ball, 
68-73  5  his  interest  in  artillery 
practice,  97 ;  on  his  troops, 
98 ;  his  plan  of  campaign,  99  ; 
army,  101 ;  condition  of  his 
men,  102 ;  his  arrival  at  Plevna, 
120;  defeats  the  Russians, 
126;  his  force,  126;  strict 
disciplinarian,  147;  his  prepara- 
tions for  recapturing  Lovtcha, 
155;  his  bay  cob,  169;  at 
Grivitza,  170  ;  rallies  the  men, 
175 ;  congratulations  on  his 
victory,  182 ;  presented  with 
the  first  order  of  the  Osmanli, 
183  ;  his  address  to  the  troops, 
183 ;  antipathy  to  war  corre- 
spondents, 192 ;  council  of 
war,  212;  his  care  of  the 
wounded,  243  ;  wish  to  attend 
the  parlementaire,  251  ;  re- 
ception of  the  medical  party, 
285 ;  wish  for  an  English 
saddle  and  bridle,  417. 

Osmanli,  fourth  order  of  the, 
392. 


PAIN,  OLIVIER,  158,  190-196; 
war  correspondent  of  a  Geneva 
newspaper,  192. 

Paris,  3. 

Parramatta,  37. 

Pearse,  310. 

Pelischat,  35  ;  battle  of,  198-205. 

Pera,  12,  415. 

Persian,  practical  joke  on  a,  397. 

Pilaf,  or  boiled  rice,  26. 

Pinkerton,  John,  301,  324,  326, 
33  *»  334»  342;  attacked  by 
typhus  fever,  346  ;  death,  350. 

Pirot,  29. 

Pizareff,  Captain  Serge,  370,  374, 
377,  381,  388. 

Plevna,  3,  34,  113,  114,  217; 
march  to,  107;  inhabitants, 
114;  fortifications,  115,  152, 
184;  commencement  of  hos- 
tilities, 121  ;  first  battle,  122  ; 
repulse  of  the  Russians,  127  ; 
second  battle,  166 ;  revival  of 
trade,  182;  earthworks,  184, 
220  ;  third  battle,  219  ;  system 
of  field  fortification,  220; 
defeat  of  the  Russians,  235  ; 
report  on  the  state  of  the 
wounded,  289-292. 

Po,  the,  7. 

Poradim,  166,  197. 

Power,  Frank,  war  correspon- 
dent for  the  Daily  Telegraph, 
83  ;  death,  85. 

Pressburg,  3. 

Price,  393. 

Prinkapo,  309. 

Pruth,  79. 

Purnekapan,  323,  362,  406. 

Pyaemia,  ravages  of,  276,  331, 
334- 


INDEX. 


433 


RADISHEVO  village,  72,  169,  227, 
236. 

Rahova  garrison,  99. 

Rasgrad,  166. 

Red  Cross  Society,  30. 

Redif  Pasha,  100. 

Redoubts,  construction  of,  221  ; 
access  to,  222  ;  area,  223. 

ReifBey,  125,  159. 

Rennison,  Tom,  342,  343,  367, 
38o,  3B5- 

Revel  Regiment,  232. 

Rhine,  9. 

Rifaat  Pasha,  Brigadier,  156,  209. 

Robert,  Dr.,  118,  121,  125,  152, 
189,  297  ;  his  hospitality,  164. 

Rochefort,  Henri,  192. 

Rome,  4. 

Rookh,  242,  270. 

Rosen,  Baroness  von,  301. 

Roumania  espouses  the  Russian 
cause,  79. 

Roumania,  Prince  Charles  of,  25 1 . 

Roumanian  gunners,  difficulty  in 
finding  the  range,  97  ;  troops, 
60 ;  vessel  blown  up,  92. 

Roy,  Dr.,  301,  392. 

Russia,  declaration  of  war,  88; 
plan  of  campaign,  105. 

Russians,  hostility  against  Plev- 
na, 121  ;  number  of  men,  126, 
224;  defeated,  127,  177,235; 
losses,  137  note,  177,  224  note, 
238  ;  their  simple  faith,  149 ; 
attack  on  Grivitza,  171  ;  retreat, 
172 ;  the  dead,  179  ;  guns 
captured,  198  ;  victory  at 
Lovtcha,  210  ;  capture  re- 
doubts, 232  ;  official  statement 
on  the  result,  235 ;  retire  to 
Radishevo,  236 ;  their  parlc- 


mcntaire  with  Tewfik  Pasha, 
251-254;  victory  at  Telish, 
313 ;  hospitality  to  doctors, 
367 ;  entry  of  troops  into 
Erzeroum,  371  ;  review,  371  ; 
sufferings,  373  ;  cruelty  to  the 
Turks,  382. 
Rustchuk,  9,  ii. 

S ,  DR.,  30,  45  ;  his  quarrel 

with  a  Turkish  major,  46-48  ; 

death,  48. 

Sadik  Pasha,  229,  256,  268. 
Said  Pasha,  105. 
Salisbury,  Lord,  372. 
Samsoun,  315. 
San    Stefano,    265,    415,    418; 

treaty  of,  372. 

Sardou,  his  play  La  Tosca,  416. 
Schaffhausen,  falls  of,  9. 
Schahoffskoi,  Prince,  166. 
Schilder-Schulder,  General,  122; 

his  attack  on  Plevna,  126;  his 

force,  137  note. 
Schmidt,  327. 

Scudamore,  Mr.  F.  Ives,  66,  307. 
Scutari,  15. 
Seraskierat,    or   War   Office    at 

Constantinople,  8,  14,  304. 
Servia,  appeal  to  the  Powers,  50 ; 

armistice  declared,  60. 
Sevastopol,  219. 
Sgalevitcha,  198. 
Shipka  Pass,  86  ;  taken,  106. 
Shumla,  99  ;  Regiment,  102. 
Sieben  Gebirge,  3. 
Simois,  405,  414. 
Sinope,  315. 
Sirope,  325. 
Sistova,  44,  106. 
Sistovitch,  General,  363. 
28 


434 


INDEX. 


Skobeleff,  35,  265,  419 ;  his  ad- 
vance on  Lovtcha,  210 ;  attacks 
the  Krishin  redoubts,  229. 

Slatin  Bey,  Fire  and  Sword  in 
the  Sudan,  194. 

Smith,  284. 

Smyrna,  420. 

Sobatoff,  General,  154. 

Sofia,  24,  5 1 ,  5 3, 30 1 ;  march  to,  2 1 . 

Soghanli  Dagh,  forest  of,  325. 

Soudan,  84. 

Souzdal  Regiment,  231. 

Spanish  women  under  fire,  91. 

Stafford  House  Committee,  vote 
of  thanks,  392. 

Stafford  House  doctors,  283 ; 
hospital,  327,  336. 

Stamboul,  1 1 ;  number  of  sieges 
and  captures,  12  ;  by  day,  14; 
by  night,  15. 

Stephenson,  9. 

Stettin,  419. 

Stewart,  Capt.  Hon.  R.,  Queen's 
Messenger,  10,  312. 

Stewart,  Colonel,  84. 

Stiven,  Dr.,  25,  55,  392 ;  his 
relief  march,  361-363. 

Stoker,  Bram,  10. 

Stoker,  Dr.  George,  10,  284,  297, 

374,  379,  381,  383,   39°,   4oo, 
404,    415 ;    his    relief  march, 

361-363- 

Stoney,  Mr.,  314. 
Stracey,  Colonel,  89. 
Strangford,  Lady,  301. 
Styria,  4. 

Suleiman  Bey,  296. 
Suleiman,  Colonel,  21. 
Suleiman  Pasha,  86,  166. 
Sutherland  Duke  of,  392. 
Sweden,  3 


"  Sweet  Waters,"  17. 
Swire,  Colonel,  308. 
Sydney,  37,  39- 

TAHIR  PASHA,  206. 

Tallat  Bey,  88. 

Tatar  Bazardjik,  20,  302. 

Tchernaieff,  General,  50. 

Teheran,  325. 

Telish,  299  ;  battle  at,  313. 

Temeraire^  309. 

Tewfik  Bey,  35,  146,  156,  163, 
184,  206,  208,  419;  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  pasha,  250  ;  his 
parlementaire  with  the  Rus- 
sians, 251-254;  his  charmed 
life,  418. 

Therapia,  British  Embassy,  313. 

Tiflis,  391. 

Tiftig,  or  lint,  122. 

Tirnova,  99,  166. 

Todleben,  219. 

Tooth-drawing,  76. 

Trebizond,  315  ;  journey  to,  403- 

413. 

Trestenik,  recapture  of  the 
village,  156. 

Trojan  Pass,  155. 

Turin,  7. 

Turkish  baby,  birth  of  a,  408. 

Turkish  dinner,  26. 

Turkish  soldiers,  character,  13, 
26,  424  ;  constitution,  13  ;  forti- 
tude, 31,  131,  144;  compared 
with  the  Egyptian  troops, 
66;  religious  prejudices,  132; 
casualties,  137  note\  number 
of,  224  ;  reluctance  to  undergo 
operations,  240 ;  stoicism,  240. 
j  Turkish  women,  under  fire,  91  ; 
devotion  to  the  wounded,  282. 


INDEX. 


435 


Turks,  their  religion,  77 ;  wrest- 
ling, 79;  superstition,  196; 
victories,  177,  235  ;  losses, 
177,  225  note ;  defeated  at 
Lovtcha,  210  ;  genius  for  forti- 
fication, 220 ;  defeated  at 
Telish,  313. 

Tutchenitza,  114,  117,  139,  181, 
187,239,  271. 

Typhus,  cases  of,  329,  330,  334,   I 
364,  388. 

VACHIN,  342,  343  ;  his  theft  of 
money,  355;  consigned  to 
prison,  356  ;  released,  357. 

Van,  province  of,  411. 

Varna,  u. 

Veltchiderma  village,  108. 

Vid,  112,  114,  157,  224,259. 

Vidpol,  103. 

Vienna,  3,  9. 

Villiers,  Mr.,  422. 

Villiers,  Fred,  423. 

Vladimir  Regiment,  2^1. 

Vratza,  55. 

WADY  HALFA,  85. 

Wagga,  39. 

Waldemann,  242. 

Weinberger,  102,  108,  in,  119, 
125,  146,  208,  242. 

Widdin,  22,  34,  43,  55,  56; 
population,  57  ;  fortress,  58  ; 
climate,  59  ;  arrival  of  Egyp- 
tian troops,  66;  preparations 
for  war,  74 ;  bombardment, 
90;  hospital  explosion  of  a 
shell,  93 ;  number  of  killed 
and  wounded,  97. 

Widow,  Spanish,  her  wish  to  go 
to  Constantinople,  401 ;  style 


of  beauty,    403 ;    vocabulary, 
405  ;  ingratitude,  414. 

Williams,  316,  331,  334,  404, 
408 ;  attacked  with  typhus 
fever,  351. 

Williams,  General,  342. 

Woods,  Dr.,  315,  316,  317,  326, 
331,  342  ;  falls  ill,  332. 

Wounded,  sufferings  of  the,  129, 
138,  272-276,  299,  333;  opera- 
tions, 143,  181,  239;  finger 
wounds,  144,  145 ;  reception 
of  the,  178 ;  extraction  of 
bullets,  199;  number  of,  239; 
variety,  241  ;  cases  of  small- 
pox and  typhoid  fever,  278  ; 
frostbite,  333. 

Wrench,  Mr.,  British  consul  in 
Constantinople,  298,  310. 

Wrestling,  pastime  of,  79. 

XAVIER,  ST.,  COLLEGE,  38. 

YALAAT  BEY,  206. 
Yeni  Khan,  326. 
Yunuz  Bey,  222. 
Yuoart,  bowls  of,  24. 

ZABERGAN,  42. 

Zacuska,  125. 

Zaitchar,  defeat  of  the  Servians 

at,  60. 

Zaptiehs,  56. 

Zara  Dilber  Effendi,  67,  421. 
Zegana  Pass,  362. 
Zohrab,   Mr.,    British    consul  at 

Erzeroum,  324,  326,  331,  420; 

ordered      to     Constantinople, 

340;  his  excellent  provisions 

and  wines,  377. 
Zohrab,  Mrs.,  420. 
Zola,  Le  Petit  Village,  116. 


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